Children Of A New Epidemic

Children of a New Epidemic

Imagine being all alone coming down from a high you were enjoying only moments earlier. You are feeling bad, scared, you are already thinking of how to get your next high. You think that you are confused? What about that child growing inside you right under your heart, living on your supply of drugs and alcohol. What kind of world will that baby be coming into? Their first experience of life may be pain, suffering, mental retardation, and deformity, just to name a few of the trials to be faced in the first moments of their tiny new life.

What types of punishments if any do these mothers deserve for giving this innocent life such a turbulent start? There are laws out there now to prevent and punish this type of crime, and that is what we are here to learn about. We are fighting for not only the punishment of these mothers but for those tiny lives that have to suffer because of the abuse by their mothers. We are here to learn about what happens to babies born addicted to drugs.

Babies, they are innocent, beautiful creatures that deserve the best the world has to offer, right? Then why would someone make an innocent baby suffer before or after birth for a 30 second high and an hour and a half crash? It is not fair that a baby should have its infancy destroyed by a cause it has no control over. That is why this article is so important. The facts need to be spoken a loud and the truths be told about America's fastest rising epidemic. This epidemic is not just for the ghettos anymore it is hitting every walk of life. Chances are you know someone who has had or has been a "crack baby".

Babies exposed to crack cocaine in the womb have a 4 time higher mortality rate than those of non-exposed babies. They are born addicted to the drug that their mother's fed them through their only means of life. These babies are born suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms. They cry more than non-addicted newborns, they suffer from muscle spasms, jitters, and pain in just being touched at all. Nurses have found that warm baths are about the only thing that will calm these suffering babies. As these infants grow into children some of them will have behavioral problems, mood disorders, and even in sever cases disfiguring birth defects.

Not all children who were born to mothers that got high however suffer lifelong problems. On average, mothers who on occasion use cocaine or crack while pregnant have children that if otherwise are healthy will only weigh about 200 grams less than a normal baby. They may have a smaller head and their IQ on an average is only about 4.5 points lower than that of a child who was not born addicted.

In a 1999 study it was found that poverty had a greater impact on a child's developing brain than did cocaine. It was reported that one study done in the 1990's said that "A child living in the inner city or ghettos has more of a chance of sustaining long-term mental problems from the poverty alone than a child labeled a crack baby." (Year 2000 Overview)

Some say that crack babies are just a media myth that there is no such thing. They try to make it sound like it causes no harm to the fetus that is long lasting. These are the same people who are saying that poverty and the children's life after the womb causes all the stereotypical problems. That a child born into poverty has no chance of leading a normal and decent life because this child has been subjected to drugs, lack of parenting and no education, just to name a few. They say these things have a greater impact on a child than a mother doing drugs while pregnant.

"Since the 1980's, social science research in the area of illicit drug use has undergone a shift in focus- from female illicit drug users to the developing fetuses of women who use illicit drugs." (Boyd, 1999). The author explains how society, as a whole, labels those who use drugs and are a product of an addicted mother as social stereotypes. These are the children that the community as a whole looks down upon. The author states "Imprecise definitions and language has led to misleading information about infants exposed to maternal drug use and people who use both legal and illegal drugs." (Boyd, 1999) The author is trying in her book to take back the stereotype and replace it with the facts of drug abuse, and how to stop it. The author discusses the laws surrounding drugs and their use as well as her own opinion on whether or not expectant mothers should face jail time during their pregnancy.

In 1999 there were an estimated 9.4 million people who have admitted to using meth at least once. In 1994 the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 63 meth labs. That figure climbed to 879 in 1996 and 1,627 in 1998. The jump in meth has continually increased. Meth is a common problem mostly in the Midwest, with Okalahoma being in the top 5 for the largest problem area. (Narconon of Southern California)

I think that with the growing numbers of babies born addicted to any illegal drug the mothers of those children need to have stronger punishments. If the laws change to where every baby was tested for illegal drugs during the routine blood tests, then each mother of a drug addicted baby can be punished by the law and forced into a rehab facility. These mothers need to come clean, and stay clean as well so that their child will have a better chance in life. To give her child a better start than the one she provided for the child in utero.

According to a recent federal government report it is estimated that in the United States each year some 320,000 babies are born exposed to alcohol and other illicit drugs while in the uterus; a far larger number have been exposed, in utero to sedatives and nicotine. "The increased recognition of such drug-exposed babies parallels the dramatic increase in drug use, both licit and illicit, by women since the beginning of the 1970s." (Lester, 2000)

In today's estimates, 22 to 25 million people have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime. In 1975 there were only 35,000 new users and in the year 2000 the number increased to 361,000. In 1988 over 300,000 babies were born addicted to cocaine. (Narconon of Southern California)

Not only are these babies born addicted to drugs, but also some have other problems that coincide with their mother's habit. They are born with diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, and what ever else their mother could have contracted from the use of dirty needles or means in which she uses her body to obtain money for the drugs. These babies, if they even survive in the womb, have to face the obstacles of the outside world. Problems such as malformed organs or limbs pose problems for them, and after their rough beginning they are passed from foster home to