Two Arrested for Child Abuse in Grand Junction
A Grand Junction couple has been arrested on multiple counts of child abuse after a young child ingested what the Mesa County Sherriff's Office is calling "a potentially lethal amount of marijuana."
The child was flown to Salt Lake City to be treated at St. Mary's Hospital and arrived in critical condition, but is now recovering.
The couple, 32-year-old Forrest Nash and 28-year-old Cory Nash are currently being held at the Mesa County Detention Facility.
Forrest Nash is being charged with three felonies for child abuse knowing or reckless with serious bodily injury, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and dispensing marijuana to a minor. He is also being charged with two misdemeanors including child abuse knowing or reckless with injury and child abuse knowing or reckless with no injury.
Cory Nash is being charged with two felonies for child abuse knowing or reckless with serious bodily injury and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She is also being charged with two misdemeanors including child abuse knowing or reckless with injury and child abuse knowing or reckless with no injury.
It hasn't been said if the child is theirs, or in what form the marijuana was ingested. However, it's easy to speculate that something like this could happen if a child were to get into an adult's stash of edibles. THC edibles are typically in the form of candy, whether it be hard candy, chocolate or gummies, and are very attractive to young children that don't know better.
It's stories like this that further stress the need to keep marijuana edibles out of reach of young children and animals. I've heard of dogs getting into chewing gum that contains xylitol and unfortunately, that particular chemical is very harmful to them. As a young boy, I even got into the Flintstone's Chewable Vitamins and had to be rushed to the hospital as well. Things like this happen from time to time, but it's absolutely imperative that harmful candies are kept in a safe spot where a child or animal cannot get to them.