Opinion-Parental responsibility a must

parentresponsibilityA pair of handcuffs would serve as an alarm clock for a Watauga mother who needs a wake-up call after snoozing in a bedroom while her two children, aged 2 and 5, were allowed to smoke marijuana.

The children were videotaped as their uncle, Demetris McCoy, 17, and his friend Vanswan Polty, 18, encouraged the tykes to take a few puffs while laughing and calling the youngsters “potheads.”

It was later discovered that the children also had cocaine in their system.

And sadly, this does not seem to be an isolated incident. It seems being introduced to drugs at a shockingly young age is more common than one might think.

An eight-month-old baby was recently taken to a North Richland Hills hospital, where doctors found a combination of methamphetamines, caffeine and various prescription drugs in his system.

“ I can’t give you numbers, but it’s something we see often,” Dr. Kimberly Allen, medical director for Cook Children’s Emergency Room, told the Star-Telegram.

The two men in the pot-smoking case are currently detained in the Tarrant County Jail on charges of injury to a child. But responsibility should not fall solely on the shoulders of the two young men.

The mother of the young boys, Shatorria Russell, needs to be held accountable as well.

She told authorities she was in the house at the time, but unaware of the episode because she was sleeping.

Of course, she is entitled to a nap, but as a mother, there is a responsibility to ensure her children are in a safe environment with a responsible caregiver.

Considering McCoy has a criminal history that started when he was 11, he probably was not the best choice.

And it should go without saying that a doped-up baby sitter is not exactly going to provide that safe environment.

Of course, the family claims to be astounded by what happened. Shirley Russell, McCoy’s grandmother told KXAS-TV that she had no idea of the teen’s actions.

But seriously, it is hard to imagine a family being completely oblivious to a drug problem, particularly when the two are daring enough to get loaded at Russell’s house with an adult and two small children present.

All that smoking must have killed quite a few brain cells because the pair was reckless enough to videotape their inhaling extravaganza. That being said, surely the teens could not have been clever enough to conceal their habits from the family.

By entrusting her children to a couple of potheads, Russell should at the very least be charged with neglect and permanently stripped of her parental rights.

Child protective services has done its part by stepping in and placing the children in foster care—hopefully a safe, loving and drug free home.

If their mother had been wise enough to open her eyes and look at what was going on, these two innocent young boys would have been learning their ABC’s instead of learning the ritual of puff, puff, pass.