In America, Drug Addiction Spreads to Newborns

RedTracker| Across America, increasing numbers of babies are being born with drug addictions, writes the NY Times. These babies addicted at birth aren’t only in LA, Atlanta or New York.

They are in rural Maine, where the number of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome at the state’s two largest hospitals climbed to 276 in 2010 from about 70 in 2005.

Tonya, 24, said she was introduced to painkillers like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin while working the overnight shift at an industrial bakery an hour from her home. Everyone — including co-workers, the boyfriend she met on the job and their manager — was taking pills, she said.

Comments

[Kiera]

It is vital that expectant moms are educated about the perils of taking prescription drugs during pregnancy. Anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax should also be completely avoided. Prescription drug epidemic should now be stopped as the unborn children deserves a healthy life.