A White House anti-drug team brought the message about marijuana youth and kids to Iowa Thursday. Spokeswoman Sarah Kayson says the message was reminding parents that pot is a risky drug. They think kids are getting the wrong message and they’re owed the facts, like how marijuana can lead to serious health and behavior problems, disrupt families and jeopardize their futures — and the tour aims to remind parents they’re the most important influence in keeping kids drug-free. Parents should get more involved in their kids’ lives, learn who their friends are and the friends’ parents are, and keep them in healthy after-school activities, some of the best ways to keep kids drug-free. Kayson says popular culture trivializes marijuana use, and the main reason kids say they don’t use drugs is that they’d lose their parents’ respect, so it’s clear parents being involved in a kid’s life is important in keeping them drug-free. The stop by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign at Des Moines’ Blank Children’s Hospital was the 25th city for the tour, sponsored by the Office of national Drug Control Policy. ……….Iowa ranks among the nation’s top ten states to have and raise a newborn. The Hawkeye State placed seventh on the “Best States for Babies” list compiled by Child magazine and highlighted in its October issue. Child’s senior editor Karen Cicero says they used 20 different benchmarks, including: mandating of newborn screenings, quality of child care and health care, presence of a childrens’ hospital, number of pediatritions, and pro-breast feeding legislation that allows moms to breastfeed in public. Cicero says Iowa ranked so well on the national survey because of several key factors, especially one that requires all newborns to be tested for a wide variety of ailments. She says Iowa’s newborn screening program contains more than 20 tests, which is among the nation’s best. Iowa also has very few uninsured children at fewer than five-percent — meaning, more than 95-percent of Iowa’s children have health insurance, an “excellent number.” She says Iowa also excells in other areas.This is the first year for Child’s rankings. Get more details at “www.child.com”. The top five states according to the survey are: at number one, California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The worst are: North Dakota, South Carolina, Mississippi, Nevada and, in last place, Alabama.
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