Drugs and Destruction Imagine that your three years old, all alone; your scared you’re hungry, with no one around to help you. Your baby brother is crying out of hunger, and your parents are too high on meth to even notice the baby is crying. The only thing you think you can do is give your brother a bottle of chocolate syrup. In this case the three year old thought chocolate syrup was appropriate for an infant because he knew the baby usually ate from a bottle. In another case there is a four year old boy you cannot count to 7 but can draw you a meth lab in full detail (Allen). These cases are not alone there are more and more children like this suffering every day. (Jennifer Michael) Shawna F. gave birth to K. J F (child) on June 17 2007, Shawna had smoked marijuana during her pregnancy, and the infant tested positive for marijuana at birth. He was born eight weeks premature and was born with Williams Syndrome, which causes mild to severe retardation. He also has a heart murmur, acid reflux, a lazy eye, and muscle separation. He would need a feeding tube just to eat. He remained in the hospital for four months until September 6, 2007. When he was released he was removed from his mother’s care, and put into foster care. Shawna had many opportunities to get her son back, but she never proved her ability to be a competent mother in 2009 Shawna lost all he parental rights to her son. Cases like this happen all the time and all around the world. It is sad to see these children suffer from their parent’s mistakes. It’s not fair to the children to have to grow up and be treated differently, because of a defect caused by their parents. The lives of millions of children are touched by substance use disorders (SUDs). The 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 8.3 million children live with at least one parent who abused or was dependent on alcohol or an illicit drug during the past year. This includes 13.9 percent of children aged 2 years or younger, 13.6 percent of children aged 3 to 5 years, 12.0 percent of children aged 6 to 11 years, and 9.9 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 years. These children are at increased risk for abuse or neglect, as well as physical, academic, social, and emotional problems. (Office on Child Abuse and Neglect). Parental substance abuse and addiction can negatively impact a child’s physical and emotional being. This addiction can cause an unstable environment for a child. The household becomes a chaotic and unpredictable, leading to child maltreatment. The children’s emotional and physical needs are put on the back burner to their parents activities related to abusing drugs and alcohol. The use of illegal drugs and abuse of alcohol has become a serious risk to our society. The involvement of substance abuse leads to domestic violence, and traffic injuries is well established. Recently, however, another threat has come to the attention of the public. This is the threat to children born to women who abuse alcohol and other drugs during their pregnancy. Experts now estimate that one-half to three-quarters of a million infants are born each year that have been exposed to one or more illegal drugs before birth. (Brady, Posner, Lang and, Rosati) These children, who are exposed to these types of drugs, are put into to great risks of having complications after birth. There are many complications for children who are exposed to illegal drugs and alcohol in the womb. Mothers who are smoking marijuana during their pregnancy are at high risk of having a miscarriage, or their children having extreme abnormities, in their physical features. For example a little boy was born in 2007 his mother had been on marijuana throughout her entire pregnancy, and her son was born premature, and he had many complications he had, speech problem, he had a lazy eye, and he was also had a heart murmur, A heart murmur is a whooshing sound between the beats that a doctor hears through a stethoscope. This is