DRUG TESTING PLANNED FOR TOTS GIVEN POT ON VIDEO

WATAUGA, Texas - Authorities planned to do drug testing this week on a
2-year-old and 4-year-old who were shown on a videotape being taught to
smoke pot by two teens who have since been arrested.

The youngsters, who will be screened for drugs Tuesday and Wednesday,
appear to be healthy and show no lingering problems from the marijuana.
Marissa Gonzales, a Child Protective Services spokeswoman, said Monday. She
said the boys also will have physical exams.

A hearing to determine whether they will be returned to their mother, who
authorities say was asleep in a back bedroom during the incident, is to be
held March 26, Gonzales said.

The boys were removed from their Watauga home last week after police in
nearby Fort Worth found the videotape while searching the house during a
burglary investigation.

It shows one of the teens lighting a marijuana cigar in the 2-year-old's
mouth, then laughing as the child coughs. One teen then tells him to pass
it to his brother, who also smokes it and coughs, as the teens laugh. The
youngsters keep smoking, and one teen asks, "You want that candy? You got
the munchies?"

"After 25-plus years in law enforcement, you don't expect people to give
narcotics to babies. That's what they are babies," said Bruce Ure,
director of Watauga's Department of Public Safety. "It just boggles the mind."

[name redacted], 17, the children's uncle, and his friend, [name redacted],
18, have been charged with injury to a child, said Mitch Poe, an assistant
Tarrant Conty district attorney. The third-degree felony carries a penalty
of probation to 10 years in prison. Both men remained jailed Monday.

The 16-year-old who videotaped the incident will also be charged with
injury to a child, but in the juvenile court system, Poe said.