A frightening and sad statistic I came across in a paper up here in Scotland. 1000 babies a year or three babies a day are born with a heroin or cocaine addiction up here. Unfortunately a figure that is seeming steadily rising. Very sad. I have no idea what the answer would be try and reduce these numbers.
Move all the maternity units south of the border, that would bring the numbers down a bit. Or more seriously, shift government policy so that such drugs are decriminalised and addicts can be better supported off the stuff.
Note the deliberate distortion to add drama: Just because a mother is addicted (it is not said to what) does not mean she will inevitably give birth to an addicted child. More exactly, stats say about 148 babies a year in Scotland. Newpapers have a way of inflating numbers... Also 37 babies a year are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Scotland, and as many as 340 babies are being born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Happy days. As early as in 1978 Brown and Harris reported that women living in unemployed poverty were more likely to be depressed. Other risk factors were the early loss of a mother, the lack of a personal confidant, the presence of multiple young children. This then cascades to the next generation. These populations are especially vulnerable to drug addiction. The answer to reducing those numbers would involve a radical shift in the way that people think and behave. We'd all have to grow up and act like mature adults, and prioritise raising happy, well-developed children with emotional intelligence --which is in stark conflict with the economic objectives pursued by government and society alike. Society as it stands is designed to maintain the status quo for the wealthy, and to keep the useful less-wealthy functioning well enough to be instruments in that process. The unuseful poor are neglected as they have no economic value. Everybody is driven by the dream of wealth; a drug in itself. Society has a choice to make: what is more important? Money or people? It's time to kick the wealth habit.
