If Addiction is a Mental Disease, Let's Start Treating It Like One: An Additional Recommendation for the Indiana General Assembly's Prenatal Substance Abuse Commission

Abstract

LexisNexis Summary … The Final Report, discussed in detail below, included findings and recommendations for the General Assembly's consideration in formulating a more thorough legislative response to the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs by pregnant women in Indiana. … The use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs by pregnant women is a significant public health issue in Indiana as well as all other states. … However, this roadblock to criminal prosecution may not necessarily be bad, because there is, perhaps, another set of statutes which would be more useful in prevention of this harmful prenatal exposure to illegal drugs: An overloaded criminal justice system that cannot adequately respond to increased drug abuse-related criminal offenses, and perceptions that the criminal justice system may not be the appropriate means for responding to drug abusers, has highlighted the potential of civil commitment as an important and distinct alternative for dealing with drug abuse. … Procedure The thrust of this analysis is that, if addiction is a mental illness, and use of illegal drugs during pregnancy by women is deemed to constitute a ″substantial risk″ of harm to ″others,″ in conformance with the above statutory definitions, it should be a logical and effective preventive measure to pursue the civil commitment of pregnant women who are abusing drugs. … While a continued focus on prevention and treatment for pregnant substance abusers is at least an attempt to mitigate the issue, and by all means the most common governmental approach, failure to exercise judicial intervention in appropriate circumstances is a grave disservice to the unborn fetuses that are being affected by the horrors of prenatal substance abuse. Text [*142]