Unconstitutional treatment of drug-addicted African American women

¶ … Supreme Court of U.S. has in the recent past been considering a high-profile cases pertaining prosecution of pregnant women who are substance abusers. Due to this never ending recurrence of this issue, advocates as well as policy makers once more have been confronted with the same dilemma of the best way of dealing with pregnant women who are involved in drugs. On the part of most lawmakers, this issue comes down to the hard task in balancing the rights of women to bodily integrity with the interest of the society in making sure that there are healthy pregnancies, this is in addition to the issue of punitive approach whether it hinders or fosters healthy results for children and women. The argument of this analysis basically is to negate the action which the mayor of the city of Pez Rhomba advocates for as the best way of dealing with pregnant women who are substance abusers, this analysis goes further to propose that treatment is the best way for dealing with this problem.

Can mothers who are pregnant and are involved in substance abuse be taken as criminal? A lot of reaction regarding the matter has been received from different parts of United States, some advocating for strict criminal perspective to the pregnant mothers abuse of drugs as some see mother's treatment as the most viable approach to the substance abuse. From diversity of responses it shows that there is no uniform policy that should manage the whole issue.

Most of the states have incorporated approaches that are non-punitive for improving long-term as well as short-term welfare for the baby and the mother, which is through drug treatment plus other support services. For instance, 25 states have reacted to the drug treatment slots present for pregnant women through creation as well as funding treatment programs or offering opportunity for the women to have access to treatment. Colorado laws encourage health care providers to refer women having risk of poor birth result out of substance abuse for a need assessment. Within California, a given trace of maternal substance abuse may call for assessment of the need of the child and the mother. The statute however specifies that a positive toxicology screen during the infant delivery is not enough bases for reporting neglect and child abuse, (Weinsdorf, T. Parra. TV. Graham, A. & Snyder, C. 1999).

Under mandatory treatment, an individual is supposed to attend substance abuse treatment but he is not to be seen or looked at or even treated as a criminal to be persecuted. This can be imposed by involvement with the judicial system or through voluntary civil commitment, persons who have not involved themselves in crime though addicted to drugs become committed since they are taken to be unable to care for themselves or could be potential threat to the safety of the public. Such individuals are supposed to remain in treatment for them to avoid criminal prosecution.

Even though policy-makers advocate for punitive as well as coercive measures with the view of protecting the fetus, however, this approach has failed in obtaining such results. Having fear of being punished, women might fail to seek prenatal care. Also even if they are jailed, some may be still in a position to get the drugs on top of being denied medical care or prenatal care at the time of pregnancies, whereas if they could be subjected to treatment they could realize the importance of stopping drug involvement for they realize that they are sick and need treatment, Murphy. S. & Rosenbaum. M. (1999).

There are possibilities of children's welfare service failing to find homes which are suitable for such children after birth, particularly the one that bears deleterious brand of 'crack baby'. Such result was seen at the time of explosion of 'boarder baby', where infants who were crack-exposed stayed in the hospital longer after their birth, the reason being that they did not get for them suitable homes. Due to this, such children could be condemned to conditions of living that create extreme social harm to their well being as compared to the living conditions that they could have if they were with their mothers while undertaking treatment or having gone through the treatment.

Even though mandatory treatment is always considered as a humane approach to criminal or civil sanctions, its function is still on the basis of coercion plus a likely punitive result in case the individual is not compliant.

Usually, labeling of children who are unhealthy as being damaged through crack has negative repercussions throughout the lives of the children. Parents and teachers expectation can be lowered in any case they consider the child as not ever being able to have a reasonable achievement either academically or socially. According to research, in case child care professionals realize cocaine-exposure in a baby, they tend to give evaluation to the performance of children who are exposed to cocaine as being substandard to that of the a child who is normal, a thing that is stereotypical and inaccurate ( Woods et al., 1994). Though, if the mother could have been subjected to treatment, the child could not have been exposed to cocaine thus be normal as the rest of the children, as compared to detention of mothers without proper care which will not be of much help to the mother and the baby.

Narrow perspective on legal prescription drugs use during prenatal duration as the main source of harm to the fetus divert attention to the rest of the known as well as hypothesized causes of fetal harm, where in some instances go with illicit use of drugs. The ignored risk factors like smoking, lack of prenatal care, socioeconomic status and environmental conditions are always overlooked in any case where use of illicit drug is present, (MacGregor et al., and 1989). Due to this, research efforts as well as prevention of these causes are capable of failing to receive attention plus resources that they deserve.

Even though punitive approach tend to guard the health of the fetus, it is important to realize that this 'aim' sometimes may not be the main motivation for punishing pregnant women who use drugs. The role of the women in 1980s, motivated through backlash against feminism, went on to be derived from the conservative cultural view of women roles, which elevated by then, as mothers as well as care givers to the stand of primary importance.

Recommendations for effectiveness of the approach

There is need to have harm reduction approach; it has been realized that pregnancy is always a window for women to cease or modify drug use. In a study in New York City over drug use by pregnant women and mothers, there was a report from three-quarters of the women over concerns of the way drug use was affecting their children which was to initiate the drug treatment. Hence, for maximization of the good health and well-being of the mother and the child, it is important that drug treatment is inclined towards reducing to the possible minimum the harm caused by the drugs and that these services are accessed easily and suitable for the individual need of the women.

The recent system of rationed care always barred women from commencing treatment even after making decision that they were ready. On top of that, screening process which is complicated, the demands therein and the waiting list put of the clients who are potential drug users discourage users of drugs from seeking treatment for fear of social reprimand. Therefore, modeling treatment in connection with harm reduction concepts, plus available treatments on request as well as facilitated enrollments are the most recommended approaches. These serve to engage women who are pregnant into services during the time when they are highly motivated to get well.

Programs by the government that offers treatment of the same nature have been implemented successfully in Netherlands and Australia. The number of methadone-maintenance programs was increased in Australia from 1985 to 1989 by3-fold. Offering of methadone maintenance in Netherlands is done by mobile vans on street corners. Such a program operates as 'low threshold programs'.

Criteria of admission have been relaxed to give opportunity for clients to skip the authentic lengthy process of screening. Moreover they make fewer demands of the clients when they are being enrolled and oppose punitive measures in responding to use of illicit drugs, putting such punitive measures only as an option, an approach which is more reasonable as compared to the usual abstinence-based programs for most of the addicts, (Wenger and Rosenbaum, 1994). Such programs are capable of providing a model for future initiatives within the U.S.A.

Creation of treatments that are effective and appropriate for women; programs of drug treatment that address the unique requirement of women who use drugs are suppose to be developed. It is important to identify that services are suppose to include not just the ones that are directly related to the substance abuse, but as well economic, emotional and social conditions programs that are contributing to their drug use.

From the study of treatment for mothers on crack, 50 experts in drug dependency as well as 150 addicted women identify components which they believe are important in the treatment of women effectively. Some of the features that they had identified that are always not present within the current programs are: comprehensive health care such as family planning, prenatal as well as prevention of HIV; service for children such as play therapy, day care, parental training and developmental monitoring of a child; an advocacy role such as contact with protective services of a child as well as welfare; and appropriate staffing such as non-confrontational, female staffing as well as cultural and racial sensitive.