The number of Northland children exposed to illegal drugs in their homes is "unfortunately common" but hard to quantify because most do not present to health services with a drug-related diagnosis, Northland District Health Board paediatrician Dr Roger Tuck says.
Exposure to alcohol-fuelled violence was also common for Northland children, particularly those from more deprived families, he said.
Dr Tuck was responding to a revelation that a Whangarei drug dealer's 11-month-old daughter became seriously ill from eating cannabis her father had left in the kitchen. The father sought medical help for the girl 24 hours after she ate the dope, but he initially denied any exposure by the child to drugs when questioned by doctors at Whangarei Hospital.
The toddler was semi-comatose, unresponsive to voice, and only responsive to stimuli by movement of her limbs when brought to the hospital on February 27.
The girl made a full recovery after spending a night in the intensive care unit, but the father - Shain Gerrit Van Iperen, 27 - is serving a two-year nine months' jail term after pleading guilty to two charges of dealing cannabis oil, one of ill-treatment of a child, and a representative charge of manufacturing cannabis oil.