Meth isn't only big drug problem

Let's file this one under "Right Problem, Wrong Answer."

State Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, plans to reintroduce a bill making it a felony for pregnant women to use illegal drugs. That's a problem worth addressing, but because it's the wrong solution, Sen. Darrington is likely to see his bill meet the same fate it suffered a year ago: Senate approval but failure to muster a hearing in the House.

Here's why: The bill won't have the positive consequences most people would want.

First, it's already a crime for anyone to use illegal drugs in Idaho. Making meth use a felony for pregnant women, for instance, is unlikely to dissuade users from indulging.

What would happen is pregnant, drug-abusing women will simply work harder to avoid detection and arrest. That means they will not seek proper care for their unborn — the very ones Sen. Darrington wants most to help — like prenatal vitamins and regular check-ups. Instead, they'll burrow further underground and put their unborn at increasing risk.

Those who are caught would be punished by up to five years in prison and $50,000 fines. We ask, how much good can a mother do for her children from prison? Or working two or three jobs to pay the fines? How can she afford the treatment she so desperately needs?

We appreciate every thoughtful effort by legislators to address our state's burgeoning drug problem. Meth use, by all accounts, is on the rise, even though known meth labs in Idaho have fallen from 131 in 2001 to 21 in 2005. Fact is, most meth now is imported from Mexico.

While legislators are tackling the meth epidemic, we encourage them to include in their focus an even more widespread substance-abuse problem — Idahoans' rising addiction to prescribed painkillers. It's our belief that these powerful narcotics are over-prescribed and, therefore, too readily available to users and sellers. But we think more information is needed so the problem can be most effectively addressed.

We ask legislators to work with health care professionals, researchers and the state's new drug czar, Debbie Field, to understand how pervasive the state's substance-abuse problems are and then map out the best ways to solve those problems. Prescription painkillers may not be as dramatic a drug-abuse poster child as meth, but we suggest it is more pervasive and ultimately as insidious. Draft legislation should then match the real problems of substance abuse with real solutions.