Collateral Damage

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than half the babies in University Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit one day this month were suffering from drug withdrawal — one sucking licorice-flavored morphine to ease his tremors and near-constant crying, another so sensitive to light and sound that he slept in a dark isolation room.

Kentucky has seen its hospitalizations for addicted newborns climb from 29 in 2000 to 730 last year. The state's 2,400% increase dwarfs by comparison a disturbing national rise of 330% found in a study that examined hospitalizations from 2000 to 2009. 

This is the war on drugs, folks.

So tell me again why we have the federal government chasing down marijuana stores while this runs rampant across the United States.  Tell me we shouldn't allocate our resources differently.  Tell me babies suffering is the price we should pay for this stupidity.