Diabetic daughter on marijuana?

by Cathy

(Peachtree City, GA)

My 20-year-old daughter was arrested 3 weeks ago for marijuana possession (less than 1 oz) and underage possession of alcohol. Her boyfriend was also arrested.

This is her third brush with the law over marijuana. We were raided by the police who were looking for the seller (that was elsewhere), and even my husband and I were handcuffed! (everyone in the house, apparently standard procedure).

She was kept in the county jail overnight until we could bail her out. People have told us to just let her stay in jail, and normally that might be an option, but the problem is she is an insulin-dependent Type I diabetic.

While she was in jail, she was not allowed to take her insulin, and her condition was ignored. Her blood sugar went up to over 500. I dread the possibility of her going to jail because I’m afraid her condition won’t be treated and she’ll end up dead. My husband was furious about this and wants to consult a lawyer.

We are in tight financial circumstances and are desperatly trying to keep from losing our home. I think my daughter might be addicted to marijuana.

She has friends we’re pretty sure are addicted. My husband and I wish she wouldn’t hang out with these people and have told her so, but the problem is that the decent people won’t have anything to do with her. This goes back several years.

For the past 10 years I have been under treatment for mental illness (bipolar disorder), and because my daughter’s diabetes wasnt’t being properly managed (I was having a psychotic episode at the time), we were investigated by the Dept. of Family & Children Services and I was hospitalized for over a month.

My daughter lost several friends because their parents were afraid of both her diabetes and my illness (the Crazy Mom) plus the fact that we were being investigated. (Everybody is scared to death of DFACS & if you get investigated everyone shuns you.) So she ended up befriending these kids who were just as troubled as she was.

She has now moved out of our home, which in some ways is a relief because the friends aren’t around anymore. My daughter has a bad temper and it’s hard for me to talk to her. We almost don’t have a relationship anymore.

She does have a regular job as a waitress and seems to be pretty good at it. One reason we’re hopeful she stays out of jail is because we don’t want her to lose her job, since she seems to be able to be sort of responsible because of it.

We have a younger daughter, 15, who is not at all like her sister. She is an A student at school and has absolutely no interest in drugs of any kind. I guess I’m just wondering what we need to do about my daughter’s marijuana use, how it relates to her diabetes, and if my mental illness has played any part in her situation and/or my ability to deal with her marijuana use.

Any comments will be appreciated.