SYDNEY, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Officials with an Australian children's charity allege parents in a Sydney suburb have been using marijuana to keep their children quiet.
Ted Noffs Foundation officials at the charity's Mount Druitt suburban branch said a growing number of area parents are giving their children marijuana to smoke in an attempt to control the kids' behavior, The (Sydney) Sunday Telegraph said.
"We are seeing 6-year-olds being given bongs by their families to keep them quiet, stop them crying, or put them to sleep," clinical psychologist Michael Kirton said.
Mark Ferry, who runs the charity's new Program for Adolescent Life Management, said since the program aimed at treating addiction in kids ages 14 to 18 began in June, he has come across suspected addicts as young as 12.
"These are kids with really entrenched addictions to alcohol, drugs or both," Ferry told the Telegraph.
"To get to that state by such a young age, you're looking at taking your first drink or (marijuana) smoke when you're 8 or 9."
