Ore. girl, 7, is medical marijuana patient

By NBC News staff and wire reports

PORTLAND, Ore. - A 7-year-old girl suffering from leukemia has become one of Oregon's youngest medical marijuana patients.

Mykayla Comstock's?mother credits the drug with helping put the cancer into remission.

But her father, worried about the effects of the drug on her brain development, alerted child welfare officials to the treatment.

Mykayla was diagnosed with leukemia last spring and the marijuana eases the effects of chemotherapy, according to her mother.?The girl takes a gram of cannabis oil daily, The Oregonian?reported.

"First you get hungry," Mykayla told the paper. "Then you get really funny, and then you get tired."

Her mother,?Erin Purchase, 25, administers Mykayla's cannabis with the help of her boyfriend.

Mykayla's mother credits the drug for the leukemia's remission.

"As a mother, I am going to try anything before she can potentially fall on the other side," said Erin Purchase, 25, who administers Mykayla's cannabis together with her boyfriend.

Mykayla's father, who is divorced from the girl's mother and lives in North Dakota, contacted child welfare officials, police and her oncologist.

Jesse Comstock said his concerns were prompted by a visit with Mykayla in August.

"She was stoned out of her mind," said Comstock, 26. "All she wanted to do was lay on the bed and play video games."

Comstock pays child support to Purchase and covers Mykayla's health insurance, the paper reported.

Oregon law requires no monitoring of a child's medical marijuana use by a pediatrician.?

Three states will decide on Tuesday whether to take the unprecedented step of legalizing marijuana. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

Comstock, who says he used pot in the past, told the paper that he doesn't object to people over 16 using medical marijuana. But he worries about his daughter's well-being and the potential for addiction.

"She's not terminally ill," Comstock said. "She is going to get over this, and with all this pot, they are going to hinder her brain growth.

Weed wars: If states legalize marijuana, will feds still crack down or steer clear?

Purchase believes marijuana heals, and also credits the drug for curing her stepfather's skin cancer.?She herself is an Oregon medical marijuana patient.

"She's like she was before," she said of Mykayla. "She's a normal kid."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/26/15452709-ore-girl-7-is-medical-marijuana-patient?lite

joba chamberlain new york mega millions jetblue jetblue michelle malkin october baby sugarland