Boy, 5, Has Opiates and Pot in Blood System

(Las Cruces, New Mexico) The 54-year-old guardian of a 5-year-old boy, Darla Jarvis, was charged with child abuse after doctors found opiates and marijuana in the boy's blood system.

From Las Cruces Sun-News:

Court records state that Las Cruces police were called to Memorial Medical Center on Oct. 14 regarding the child's accidental overdose of approximately four Vicodin, a prescription narcotic pain killer.

Doctors performed a urinalysis that showed the boy was positive for opiates and marijuana, court records stated.

"(The doctor) explained that for the child to test positive (for marijuana), he had to have been exposed to a chronic smoker or ingested the marijuana," the officer reported.

Jarvis claims that the boy accidentally ingested her prescription Vicodin. She also claims her roommate was a marijuana smoker and she has asked him to leave.

The boy's mother is reportedly in prison and Jarvis has been the boy's guardian since he was 18 months old. It's unknown how Jarvis became a guardian.

Jarvis was issued a summons to appear in court on a charge of first-degree child abuse.