SAN DIEGO — Jessa Milender had watched her mom take the syringe from the refrigerator and poke the needle into her stomach a handful of times.
In December 2024, when 7-year-old Jessa had a stomachache, she went straight to the refrigerator. She reached behind the butter on the top shelf and grabbed the bag of pre-filled syringes containing the pre-diabetic and weight-loss drug Mounjaro, a GLP-1 drug which replicates natural hormones that regulate appetite and digestion.
Without telling anyone, Jessa poked herself in the stomach with the needle and depressed the plunger, just like she had seen her mother do…