EDITOR: A woman accidentally develops the chronic disease of addiction and then she accidentally gets pregnant. Dr. Erin Lund of Vista Family Health Center ("A message of hope for opioid-addicted pregnant women," Close to Home, Saturday) asks the community to "remove our value judgments and encourage those who are suffering to seek help. Pregnancy can be a unique opportunity for women to turn their lives around." Perhaps having a baby does give some women their best shot at overcoming addiction, but why should a baby have to save its parents, at the expense of its own quality of life? Many more women can't kick, or don't even try. [continues 111 words]
Addicted Offenders Find Help Getting Sober, Starting Fresh On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Michael stood before Vancouver provincial court Judge Harbans Dhillon and told her he was ready to change his life. "Before I came in here, I was on the longest drug run of my life. I was using for four years daily," Michael said. Dhillon called for a round of applause to mark Michael's formal admission to the 15-year-old drug treatment court. And she asked Michael his views on the program to which he was committing the next year of his life. [continues 918 words]
But Doctors Need Court Order to Give Results to Police INDIANAPOLIS - A surge in heroin and painkiller abuse - and a related spike in the number of drug-dependent newborns - has doctors calling for drug tests for all pregnant women. But, first, doctors and health officials want lawmakers to shield addicted, expectant mothers from punishment. The Legislature has taken a first step, quietly passing a measure to prohibit doctors from giving results of a pregnant woman's drug tests to police without a court order. [continues 670 words]
It's A 'Win-Win Situation' For Mother and Child They're coming into this world shaking and trembling, irritable and having a difficult time settling. Babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome are some of the North Bay Regional Health Centre's smallest and most vulnerable patients. But a new treatment plan is proving to be positive for both mother and baby. Kim Carter, manager of women and children programming at the health centre, said most of the patients who have babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) suffer from chronic pain or have been diagnosed with chronic illnesses. [continues 265 words]
Pregnant Women Using Illegal Drugs Are Avoiding Prenatal Care for Fear of Facing Charges After Births. As the abuse of opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, has risen in Tennessee, the number of babies born dependent on drugs has skyrocketed, increasing fifteen-fold during the last 10 years. In an effort to combat this troubling trend, the state approved a controversial new law in 2014 to allow women who give birth to babies "harmed by" illegal drug usage to be charged with misdemeanor assault. [continues 644 words]
Jane Cartwright says addicts' desperate need for a fix trumps court orders for prohibition from Kelowna's 'red zone,' and where else in town can homeless drugusers find places to eat and sleep? Drugs keep addicted people coming back to Kelowna's downtown, and the courts are hard-pressed to bar them completely because that's where they get help, says a Kelowna judge. Responding to Mayor Colin Basran's comment that court-ordered punishments rarely deter drug dealers from Kelowna's core area, Judge Jane Cartwright said addicts often get their fix by selling drugs. Their habits are so entrenched, they ignore no-go orders that prohibit them from the downtown red zone. [continues 989 words]
A Pregnant Heroin Addict Passes on Her Struggle After a month of painful withdrawal that bunched her body into a tight ball, after tremors and diarrhea and sleeplessness and difficulty eating, Makenzee Kennedy went home to her bed in a drug rehab facility to celebrate a milestone: turning 2 months old. She lives there for now with her mother, 31-year-old Ashley Kennedy, who is 11 years into her on-again, off-again struggle with heroin addiction. If all goes well, Makenzee will never again see the inside of Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, where she was weaned off drugs through intensive, round-the-clock care. "It's not my first time trying to stop," Ashley Kennedy acknowledged as she bottle-fed Makenzee. "It's my last time now. I don't want to touch another drug after putting my baby through this." In communities across the nation, the collateral damage of the heroin epidemic is rippling through the health-care system. The rate of hepatitis C is skyrocketing, fueled by needle sharing among addicts. Experts worry that an upturn in HIV rates may not be far behind. And the rate of fatal heroin overdoses has quadrupled over the past 10 years. In Baltimore, nearly two-thirds of the 302 overdose deaths last year were caused by heroin. "We have a very serious issue in the U.S. right now in terms of the use of heroin and other opiate agents," said Alan Spitzer, senior vice president at Mednax, which provides maternal and newborn medical services to hospitals. [continues 1209 words]
Sometimes, Carole Pickworth-Campbell goes home to Johnstown after a day volunteering at Nationwide Children's Hospital and cries. Her tears come after hours of trying to console the cries of the smallest Ohioans hurt by the opiate epidemic. Since 2004, the state has seen a 750 percent increase in the number of babies diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome; essentially withdrawal from the drugs their mother used. On average, there were five drug-dependent babies admitted to Ohio hospitals each day of 2013 with 87 percent of them on Medicaid, according to a recent report from the Ohio Department of Health. [continues 1404 words]
Re "Born with a burden" (Page A1, June 28): First, let me commend the Globe and Felice J. Freyer for an excellent article on the emotionally charged and difficult topic of the effects of opiate dependence on pregnant women and their babies. It showed that pregnancy during addiction can be a positive life-transforming event, as impossible as this seems. Rather than being a victim, as the article's subhead suggests, the baby can be a catalyst for change. With proper medical care and addiction treatment, the pregnancy can be healthy and the mother ready for her role as a parent. [continues 130 words]
Health Officials Say That Needlesharing by Drug Users Is Spreading Hepatitis C Locally and Statewide. The boom in heroin use paired with a surge in hepatitis C infections in Franklin County and across Ohio have heightened worries about the spread of other diseases, particularly HIV, and sparked conversations about a local needle exchange. Hepatitis C, a treatable but sometimes deadly viral disease that attacks the liver, was diagnosed in 719 people in Franklin County five years ago. The number had nearly doubled by last year, to 1,369, according to data from Columbus Public Health. So far this year, the county is on pace to record more than 1,400 cases. In just one year, the number of hepatitis C cases statewide grew from 10,020 in 2013 to 15,887 in 2014. [continues 747 words]
1700 Drug-Exposed Infants Born in Ohio in 2013 As Heroin Scourge Drives Ninefold Increase Since '04 The youngest heroin addicts aren't even born yet. Still in the womb, they are exposed to opiates by expectant mothers with drug habits sometimes so insatiable and all-consuming the pregnancy goes undetected for months. And, fueled by opioid use by pregnant women, more of these young addicts are born every day. Nearly 1,700 drugexposed infants were born in Ohio in 2013, a nearly ninefold increase from 2004, according to the Ohio Department of Health. [continues 2310 words]
SOCIAL SERVICES: CAS has 300 kids in care The Children's Aid Society is sounding alarm bells. The number of children in care combined with an in ux of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome is exhausting local resources. Executive director Gisele Hebert said the number of babies born with addictions is unprecedented. In 2012, she said, there were 22 babies born to a mother addicted to cocaine, crack,marijuana, morphine, methadone or Oxycontin. In 2014-15, that number jumped to 48. [continues 287 words]
Marc and Jodie's online magazine claims pregnant women smoking pot helps with nausea and emotions - but studies say otherwise Marc Emery's online magazine, Cannabis Culture, encourages marijuana use during pregnancy for relief of nausea, loss of appetite and to help get emotions under control. "Most studies say cannabis is perfectly safe during pregnancy, but it's controversial, of course!" said Jodie Emery, Marc's wife and well-known marijuana activist. In one online article, Dr. Kathy Galbraith, known as "Dr. Kate," writes, "Pot can be safely used during pregnancy, and can help with several of the discomforts/problems associated therewith." [continues 343 words]
In January, a group of Colorado Springs pediatricians had an unusual topic on the agenda for one of their monthly meetings: Breastfeeding and babies who test positive for THC. "When that hits the agenda, it's clearly important," said Dr. Darvi Rahaman, a pediatrician at Peak Vista. "There's so many, so many good things about breastfeeding and its positive effects. When a child is born, we and the nursing staff promote breastfeeding. The question is what happens when we know Mom was positive on a THC screen? Do you recommend you breastfeed or not? What do you do?" [continues 681 words]
Prisoners in Bali's Kerobokan jail are petrified they will be abandoned by the world after their mentors and advocates Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are killed this month. While the art, computer, bible and cooking classes co-ordinated by Sukumaran and Chan are well documented, few on the outside are aware of the advocacy role the men have played in the prison over many years. The two Australians use their extensive network of supporters to source food, medical supplies, money and other goods for fellow prisoners. [continues 583 words]
It's A Rocky Trip Down From a Rocky Mountain High Certain Americans have a love-hate relationship with marijuana, and with the pleasure comes the pain. In Colorado, where residents have legalized the euphoria of pot, the unhealthy consequences of it are beginning to emerge. There's a warning for other states in the Rocky Mountain high. Last week, the state of Colorado published a 188-page study of the health effects of pot. Coming a year after voter-approved legalization took effect, "Monitoring Health Concerns Related to Marijuana in Colorado: 2014" reviews existing literature and compiles a summary of the effects of marijuana use. Given the health risks associated with cannabis, it's a perverse irony of human nature that the craving for a high can drive a stoner to give in to such a self-abusing downer. [continues 448 words]
Marijuana Industry Sees Less Legislative Regulation in This Year's Session The strides in regulating Colorado's burgeoning marijuana industry look more like baby steps through the first quarter of the legislative session. In 2014, legislators took up 31 bills that dealt directly with marijuana. Last year's session produced a law that authorized a banking services cooperative for pot businesses that big banks won't serve, and another that created sweeping changes on howpotent edible pot products can be and how they are labeled. moves this session. [continues 653 words]
She Provided 70 Clean Urine Samples, Yet Her Girls Were Taken From Her at Birth Because of Controversial Hair Test The last time Christine Rupert saw her daughters was in a dingy church basement in Kitchener, surrounded by awkward and emotional reunions between other parents and their kids. It was September 2008. Molly, an 18month-old with fine brown hair and wide eyes, sat as if glued to her mom's lap. Emily, 6 months, mainly snoozed in her car seat. [continues 2905 words]
Hundreds of Families Have Moved to Colorado in Hopes of Healing Their Sick Children - Kids Conventional Medicine Has Failed. They'Re Turning to a Liquid Form of Marijuana That Has Helped Some, but Not All. This Is the Story of 12-Year-Old Preston and His Mother, Ana. Ana Watson looks across the living room of the Colorado Springs house that still doesn't feel quite like home and sees her son, Preston, sitting stiffly on a brand-new couch. His eyelids flutter, struggling against the seizures that have quaked through his brain every day since he was 3 months old. [continues 4308 words]
Regarding 'Science wins:' Al Byrne uses the work of Melanie Dreher to support his view that marijuana is harmless, indeed even helpful, to pregnant women and their babies. Unfortunately, this work is only one work carried out on a very small sample of 33 users and 27 non-users in the early 1980s. Although this work is important, subsequent studies have disproved much of her work. In addition, today's marijuana is not your mother's marijuana. It is a much more potent form. [continues 257 words]
