Drug Coalition Says New Legislation Better Protects Kids From Drug Exposure

A local drug coalition member says that new state legislation, Senate Bill 1530,  is one step forward in protecting child from drug exposure.

The bill expands the definition of “severe child abuse” to include exposure to hard drugs. The law would add the act of knowingly allowing a child to be in the presence of, and have access to, drugs like methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine.

Power of Putnam Executive Director Bill Gibson said that when it comes to addressing drug issues, every little bit helps.

“It’s really important to be mindful of the children as victims of this addiction epidemic that’s raging,” Gibson said. “It’s affecting a lot of people, and among all the other things we’re doing to try to help it’s a pretty important move.”

Gibson said the definition already includes standard things about exposing children to abusive situations.

“What this bill does is adds to those in that definition,” Gibson said. “Having a child present in a home or a dwelling where Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substances are present. Schedule I and Schedule II substances are the most dangerous and they have the highest risk for abuse and the lowest amount of medical use.”

Gibson said that while it may take a while to see real change after the law goes into effect, he hopes it will continue the efforts to prevent children’s exposure to hard drugs.

“Years ago, we had problems with people making homemade methamphetamine with children in the home.” Gibson said. “That was exposing children to this toxic environment. So this is a little expansion of that.”