Criminalizing Addiction---Is it Ever the Answer?

   Addiction is a disease, imagine if our criminal justice system began incarcerating individuals because they suffer from heart disease, diabetes or cancer.  As a society, there is still a perception that addicts have a choice, that all they have to do is muster up some "willpower" and stop using drugs, or alcohol.  Anyone who has suffered with addiction, or knows someone who has, can attest, that it's not just about willpower.
   There is a growing trend to target pregnant women with criminal prosecution if they use drugs during their pregnancy.   The state of Tennessee passed a law in 2014, that allows for the prosecution and incarceration of pregnant women who use illegal narcotics. The law targets illicit drugs, not alcohol or prescription medications.  Studies have found, that although the law's purported intent is to get pregnant women to seek treatment, in fact, it is discouraging women from getting prenatal care, due to fear of prosecution.  The truth is Tennessee lacks sufficient resources to treat these women for their addiction.
   An Arkansas case recently decided, is a small step in the right direction.  In 2014 Melissa McCann-Arms was convicted of introducing a controlled substance into the body of another person after her newborn son tested positive for methamphetamine. The statute used to convict McCann-Arms was intended to deal with "date rape drugs."  The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned the conviction, along with a 20 year sentence.
  The criminal justice system has failed in every respect where it comes to addiction, when punitive measures are the only option.  Study after study have found that treatment prevents future arrests. Incarceration does not help the addict, it certainly cannot help a mother and child.  Placing a child in the foster system, which is underfunded, poorly supervised and for all intents and purposes is broken can never be the answer.
  Treat the disease, don't condemn a child to a life without a mother.