Woman sentenced to 3 months for giving son marijuana for doing homework

[sanctus]

Wed Nov 22, 4:14 PM


GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A woman who admitted smoking marijuana daily with her 13-year-old son to reward him for doing his homework was sentenced to three months in prison.

Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, was also given nine months under house arrest and a year on probation Tuesday. Livelsberger pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 to corruption of minors and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

She admitted that she had been smoking pot with her son since he was 11.

 

[Sassylassie]

She's not a very good example of a mother with "Good Parenting Skills", shameful but I'm not surprised there are alot of parents that raise their children to be their "Friends" and impose very little or no limits on a childs behavior.

 

[earth_as_one]

When the punishment associated with a crime is more harmful than the crime itself, then there's something wrong with the law.

I don't defend the mother's criminal behavior but consider her action relative to the behavior of other parents/guardians:

Serving children alcohal served with a meal. Alcohal is a drug too. Some children might become alcohalics as a result. How about communion?

What about using drugs including tobacco and alcohal in front of children? Does that increase the chances a child will use those drugs?

Prescription medication is a whole other area of child drug abuse...

In this case, no one seems to care that the mother was motivated by good intentions. But since her actions were misguided, the legal system split up the family.

I wonder where the kid spent the time his Mom was in jail? Was she a single Mom? What did her jail/court time cost taxpayers?

Did other options exist? i.e. councilling/montoring

Drug use is a problem. But handing out jail sentences to drug addicts doesn't seem to work in most cases.

Most reformed drug addicts graduate from AA or NA which are free programs unlike prisons.

 

[Colpy]

When the punishment associated with a crime is more harmful than the crime itself, then there's something wrong with the law.

I don't defend the mother's criminal behavior but consider her action relative to the behavior of other parents/guardians:

Serving children alcohal served with a meal. Alcohal is a drug too. Some children might become alcohalics as a result. How about communion?

What about using drugs including tobacco and alcohal in front of children? Does that increase the chances a child will use those drugs?

Prescription medication is a whole other area of child drug abuse...

In this case, no one seems to care that the mother was motivated by good intentions. But since her actions were misguided, the legal system split up the family.

I wonder where the kid spent the time his Mom was in jail? Was she a single Mom? What did her jail/court time cost taxpayers?

Did other options exist? i.e. councilling/montoring

Drug use is a problem. But handing out jail sentences to drug addicts doesn't seem to work in most cases.

Most reformed drug addicts graduate from AA or NA which are free programs unlike prisons.

Earth as One, GET REAL!!!!

My God, Man, she was feeding the kid marijuana when he was ELEVEN years old.

That is child abuse. Simple as that. The kid is better off AWAY from her, and she got off easy.

Were the kid even 16, I would agree with you.

But ELEVEN!!!! or thirteen when she was caught.

And I smoked dope practically every day from the time I was 17 until I was in my 30s.

But I sure wasn't given it by my parents. They had both values and standards.

 

[tamarin]

I think I might be more concerned with parents who allow children to buy gangsta rap cd's and play them at home. They're legion. Anti-culture, and anti-society, the music is a poison in our communities. We have a lost generation out there, generation FU, that insists standards and rules are meaningless.
Yes, marijuana is a plague and the mother needs to be reprimanded. She has been. But it is just one of the many blights out there made possible by parental folly and laxity. And it's not the worst.

 

[Sassylassie]

Good posts Colpy and tamarin I agree with you both, I think Gansta Rap goes to far and it's far to violent and it spews filth towards women it's not music it's hateful crap.

 

[wolfking99]

I agree with u Sassylassie...that music is definitely influential is a true fact. Also, the fact that the mother got jail time for a year is something that I think is reasonable. Sure, we can't catch all the mothers in the world that give their children dope, but you can catch one or two of them and punish them as an example to other mothers.

 

[earth_as_one]

I recognize the problem, but jail time isn't effective against drug use.

The US has far more severe street drug related laws than Canada. Does the US have a smaller drug problem than Canada or just more people locked in prison?

http://november.org/graphs

Also no one explained why this story shocks you, yet drugs like alcohol and tobacco get a free pass. These drugs are also a problem. Why shouldn't parents who let their kids use these drugs get jail time.

 

[Colpy]

Fair enough, Earth as One

Were someone feeding their kids alcohol in quantities large enough to get them drunk, I would want MORE severe punishment. Alcohol is a MUCH worse drug than marijuana.

I would also say a person who was feeding their 11 year old cigarettes should probably lose custody.......

And I wouldn't have Gangsta Rap in my house............

 

[Jay]

A woman who admitted smoking marijuana daily with her 13-year-old son to reward him for doing his homework....

And if he cut the grass, a few lines of coke....clean the house, a hooker was brought in.

 

[sanctus]

Serving children alcohal served with a meal. Alcohal is a drug too. Some children might become alcohalics as a result. How about communion?
.

Not a defence, but some of this is cultural. French people, for example, that have wine as part of their daily meals. Kids are exposed to this at an early age and do not seem to have issues related to it.

As for Communion, different concept and the amount ingested is so small it would hardly be a problem, I would think.

 

[sanctus]

She's not a very good example of a mother with "Good Parenting Skills", shameful but I'm not surprised there are alot of parents that raise their children to be their "Friends" and impose very little or no limits on a childs behavior.

That seems to be the norm now with so many kids. Rude, obnoxious, disrespectful. How many times anymore do we see these little monsters in stores or restaurants acting like wild animals while their parents sit nearby not so much as rasing their voice to stop them

 

[sanctus]

I think I might be more concerned with parents who allow children to buy gangsta rap cd's and play them at home. They're legion. Anti-culture, and anti-society, the music is a poison in our communities. t.

I'm divided about placing the blame on the music kids listen to. My mother used to say pretty much the same thing about The Beatles. I think it goes beyond the music. In other words, the music may not be so much an influence as a reflection of the general world kids are living in these days.