OFFICIALS SHOULD HELP GOWDY FORCE DRUG-USING MOTHERS INTO TREATMENT

State social service officials should work with 7th Circuit Solicitor
Trey Gowdy to push drug-using mothers into the treatment they need.

Gowdy has complained that his office is not notified when women give
birth, and they and their babies test positive for illegal drugs.

It is likely that the Solicitor's Office hasn't been notified out of a
conviction among health care and social workers that such mothers need
treatment rather than prosecution.

That conviction is correct. But Gowdy's plan represents the best way
to get those mothers into and through treatment.

The prosecutions of a couple of mothers in the Upstate show that some
women will continue to take illegal drugs and continue to have babies,
subjecting them to that drug use. One woman tested positive for
cocaine during three pregnancies in five years.

Although they are referred to drug treatment by social workers, they
often refuse the treatment and fail to finish it if they start.

Gowdy wants a better shot at forcing these women into treatment and
coercing them to complete it.

He wants hospitals and social workers to report to his office when a
pregnant woman and infant test positive for illegal drugs.

Then the woman would be placed in a drug treatment program and
subjected to random drug tests. If she failed to successfully complete
the treatment, she would be prosecuted in drug court. The sentence
there would be a more aggressive, more controlled treatment program.
Failure there would result in regular criminal prosecution.

Gowdy's plan recognizes that drug users need treatment more than
incarceration. It gives drug-addicted women two opportunities for
treatment and increasing motivation to complete the treatment.

But the plan also recognizes that such women do great harm to
themselves and their children through their drug use. It recognizes
the cost to society of babies born addicted to drugs. And it includes
a point at which the justice system won't turn a blind eye to women
continuing to subject their babies to drugs.

This is a humane plan that promises to give these women and their
children hope for a better life. Hospitals and social workers should
cooperate with the Solicitor's Office to implement this plan.