Arkansas Man Posts Facebook Video Of Himself Allegedly Smoking Pot With Three-Year-Old, Promptly Gets Arrested

An Arkansas man is in hot water after posting a video on Facebook showing him allegedly smoking marijuana with a three-year-old, WWMT (Grand Rapids) is reporting.

Here’s some free advice: if you’re going to commit a crime, such as child endangerment, it’s best not to brag about it on social media. 17-year-old Lamel Lamont Yancy, of North Little Rock, apparently did get that memo. His Facebook page – at least, back when it was public – contained a video that caught the eye of the police.

An unidentified North Little Rock police officer was looking around Facebook for burglary suspects (apparently crooks bragging about their crimes on Facebook is a thing in Arkansas), when he came across Yancy’s page and saw the video. In the video, Yancy can be seen smoking what cops would later say was marijuana. He can also be seen allegedly trying to get the kid to smoke some. The child, whom Yancy allegedly joked was high on marijuana, can be heard saying the word “weed” – slang for marijuana.

#KATV7 obtained video from @NLRPD showing toddler smoking weed. It led to charges against teen relative. WATCH here: https://t.co/47cagNrunE

— KATV News (@KATVNews) September 22, 2016

The child’s mother can later be seeing getting into the back seat of the car while Yancy is still smoking. She objects, and then Yancy can be heard promising the child that he (Yancy) would smoke with him later.

The child was taken to an area hospital for drug testing. Meanwhile, police haven’t determined whether or not the mother will face any criminal charges.

Yancy has been charged with endangering a minor.

The effects of marijuana on small children are, as yet, not fully understood, largely because marijuana’s status as a controlled subject has prevented research on the subject. However, as Children’s Hospital of Colorado notes, emergency rooms are seeing an increase in kids being sent to hospitals from getting sick on pot. In almost all of those cases, the children accidentally ingested “edibles” – that is, candy or other treats infused with THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

“In these instances, kids mistake “edible” marijuana (like gummy bears, brownies, lollipops, etc.) for regular food and eat it unknowingly. Small children are at higher risk based on their size and weight. Because edible products have very high amounts of marijuana, the symptoms are more severe on a small child. Many young children who consume marijuana edibles require hospital admission due to the severity of their symptoms.”

The symptoms of over-ingestion of edibles can be severe, and can include nausea, vomiting, and temporary psychosis. The good news is that these symptoms usually go away on their own.

The jury is still out, however, on the long-term effects of marijuana on children and adolescents.

The Green Kids Blog also notes that children can get a so-called “contact high” just from being in the same room as adults who are smoking marijuana, especially considering the high potency of marijuana plants these days.

“When marijuana is burned, it triggers a chemical reaction that produces THC. While a large portion of the THC is delivered directly to the smoker’s lungs, a smaller but still significant amount is released into the air. The level of exposure to THC in the air is higher in small, enclosed areas or areas with poor ventilation… Vaporizing marijuana plant oils can result in very high THC proportions (50%). Therefore, children exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke are probably exposed to enough THC to have positive levels in their blood and urine.”

In other words, smoking marijuana near, or even with, small children is generally seen as a bad idea. Posting videos of your pot-smoking around small children on Facebook, like Arkansas man Lamel Lamont Yancy allegedly did, is an even worse idea.

[Feature Image by Pan Xunbin/Shutterstock]