A two-year-old dies after taking parents' methadone

Tim · Supporter Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 232

Statistics reveal that around 60,000 children in Scotland are living with drugs dependent parents and that around 300 babies a year are born with substance addiction. They are being brought up by parents who are preparing, injecting and buying drugs in front of the children noses.

Although a two year-old boy had died last December from taking his parents’ methadone pill, the news have revealed the story a weak ago. The unfortunate boy was found dead in his bed by his 25 year-old mother who was found to be a methadone user as well as the father of the child. They have another two children who were taken into care until the whole case is investigated. It is still not known how the child got into the possession of the drug and how he managed to open what was supposed to be a childproof bottle top.

Last month, a similar situation happened in Glasgow. An 11 year-old girl was admitted in hospital after collapsing at her school desk after smoking heroin. It was also found to be addicted to heroin as well as her mother is.
Some of the health experts in Scotland are suggesting an introduction of an American-style scheme where addicted mothers will have to put up their children for adoption if they fail to kick their habit a year after giving birth.

It is estimated that drug and methadone dependency have reached epidemic proportions in Scotland and that measures must be taken as soon as possible.

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I couldn't even red the second half of you post after I read the way that you misrepresented the story of the 2 year old boy who died, and acted like he died because his parents were drug users. They were both on methadone, which is a regulated medication that treats a proven medical condition. MANY more kids die each year from ingesting OTHER medications that can be lethal if taken by children or those for whom they have not been prescribed. Yes, there IS a problem with WHY the bottle was available to the child without the child-protective cap on it, but that is the problem in every other case where this happens with another medication.....with parent's who AREN'T drug addicts. After all, you do NOT have to be a drug addict to be an irresponsible parent. There is a campaign to spread lies about methadone and methadone treatment, and you must be part of it. Methadone is the safest and most effective treatment for those who have had addictions, and it has brought MANY mothers fathers sons and daughter;s back from a terrible condition to lead healthy and productive lives. For you to equate a story about a child gaining access to a potentially lethal medication with people who shoot drugs in front of their children is absolutely disgusting. Those parents should be investigated for being irresponsible, just as the parent of the child who dies from taking the heart medication, or the blood pressure medication. The child dies from Carelessness, not drug addiction. If people like you continue to manipulate the facts about methadone to spread ignorance about it, you will reduce access to treatment for those who can benefit from it, which will lead to more drug addicts in society,
more deaths of our loved ones that fall into this heart-breaking disease. But who cares......there just drug addicts right?

A two-year-old dies after taking parents' methadone

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