We are all well aware of the growing drug epidemic in our country. Many efforts are being made to address this problem including innovative medical therapies and increased availability of mental health services. While these efforts are noble, very few people seem concerned with identifying the source of the problem. Sadly, as we do with so many of our societal ills, we spend all our resources cleaning up the consequences of our actions instead of asking why we made those choices in the first place.

As a neonatal physician, I deal with the collateral damage of these irresponsible lifestyle choices. I am seeing an increasing number of babies addicted to drugs and infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Sadly, the illicit drugs and STD’s once restricted to the back alleys of society have moved locations and set up shop in the uterus. The only truly Safe Room on the planet has been transformed into a crack house.

We used to be bold enough to say that taking drugs during pregnancy was a bad thing, but now it appears that choice has trumped consequence and instead of offending someone by calling out their bad behavior we seem content to spend our resources trying to limit the fallout of their bad judgment. When I first began practicing neonatal medicine I would have social services evaluate any woman who used marijuana during pregnancy, but now it is treated like a prenatal vitamin. Legalization of marijuana has not only increased the number of babies exposed to the drug but also increased the amount of cannabis afflicting their little bodies (1). Our leniency with pot has caused us to become even more tolerant with women who use harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. Mind-altering drugs are destructive because they create neurological detours that prevent the developing human brain from correctly mapping out reality. We used to consider maternal drug use a form of child abuse, but now we treat fetuses like stoner friends. 

The use of drugs and the acquisition of sexually transmitted diseases during pregnancy is clearly a problem but it didn’t begin in a vacuum. I would suggest that there are two reasons for this disturbing trend, one postmodern and the other modern. First, I would implicate the philosophy of the Pro-Choice movement because it has elevated choice to the status of cultural sacrament. Choice is no longer just an argument for abortion but is also the mantra of a postmodern culture that values lifestyle over public good. A little bit of drug use or a sexually acquired disease seems a small price to pay to preserve our freedom. In the end, we spend millions of dollars cleaning up this medical mess rather than appearing intolerant and calling out people for their bad lifestyle decisions. I believe the second reason for this problem is linked to the modernist idea that humans are just chemicals and that spirit is an illusion. Sadly, our world is spiritually broken and yet we try to patch it with physical Band-Aids. If we are just chemicals then the answer to our problems is clearly more chemicals.  If I am sad give me happy pills. If my life is painful then give me something to numb the pain. If my life lacks excitement then let me have my orgasm. If I happen to be pregnant and sad then just consider it chemotherapy for two.

I want to make it clear that addiction is a complex problem and we need to compassionately help those who are afflicted, but we need to ask the bigger cultural question of how we got into this mess in the first place. We seem fixated on treatment when prevention is clearly cheaper. The problem is that the less expensive preventative measures of monogamy, abstinence, and sobriety limits our choice smorgasbord. We don’t want to walk into the cultural candy store and find that that they only stock broccoli. We frequently hear critics say that these simple solutions won’t work because kids will be kids, and adults will be adults, but the problem is that we haven’t even tried them for fear that we may restrict freedom. I’m sorry, but I have already seen the devastating consequences of free choice on innocent human life and it isn’t pretty. I find it quite ironic that the inviolable right to choose has ironically been denied to the ones most affected. Millions of fetuses are force fed the refuse of our poor choices and yet we remain deaf to the collective gagging emanating from their wombs.

Freedom of choice cannot be imposed on those who do not have the opportunity to choose and spiritual brokenness cannot be treated with sex and chemicals. Sadly, society failed to read the warning label before it became hooked on the drug of choice and now we are all suffering from its inevitable side effects. We are all broken but we have a choice; we can accept the healing services of the Great Physician or self-medicate with drugs dispensed by the cultural apothecary of apathy.

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2: 15-17)

Photo by Smoke & Vibe on Unsplash

(1) https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/26/health/marijuana-pregnancy-statistics-study/index.html