Health Impact News Editor Comments: I can remember the 1980s, when a cheaper form of cocaine (often known as the “rich man’s drug”) called “crack” became popular on the streets. It was more toxic than pure cocaine, but much more readily available illegally than pure cocaine. This resulted in “crack babies” that were born addicted to crack because their mothers were addicted to it while pregnant. The nation was outraged, and every major media outlet covered the story.
Today we have an epidemic just as bad, if not worse. But the difference this time is that the drugs pregnant moms are addicted to are LEGAL prescription drugs. This is first major news source I have seen cover the story. And while they do a good job covering the problem, almost no time is devoted to cause of the problem, which is doctors over-prescribing these legal drugs that are easier to get than illegal drugs, and just as deadly if not MORE deadly. The focus on the story is still on the moms, with no discussion of the problem with pharmaceutical companies that market these drugs, and the physicians that prescribe them, who are often on the payroll of the pharmaceutical companies. So while our country was outraged by the “crack” babies of the 1980s, the babies born addicted to prescription drugs today struggle to get media attention.
By Catherine Olian
Rock Center
Excerpts:
They are the youngest victims of the prescription drug epidemic, tiny babies born already addicted to the drugs their mothers were taking when they were pregnant. More than13,000 babies a year are born in America addicted to prescription painkillers like OxyContin, hydrocodone and other narcotic drugs, according to a recent study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The sheer volume of babies born addicted is putting a strain on the healthcare system. Healthy newborns typically stay in the hospital for a few days, but these babies stay weeks and sometimes months, at an average cost of more than $50,000 per child, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Doctors at the Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia told us that sometimes the neonatal unit is so full of babies going through withdrawal that newborns with other problems like prematurity have to be turned away due to lack of space.
Dr. David Chaffin, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Marshall University Medical Center participated in a multi-hospital study that had a stunning result: at least 10 percent of all babies in West Virginia are born with prescription narcotics in their systems. He calls painkiller addiction among pregnant women “a monstrous tidal wave” with no end in sight.
Read the Full Story Here: http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/05/12570381-prescription-drug-addiction-among-pregnant-women-becoming-monstrous-tidal-wave?lite