"LABOUR leaders prompted an angry reaction from drug workers yesterday after it emerged that they were considering plans to prevent drug addicts from having children until they kicked the habit.
The plans, which will be considered by the Scottish Labour Party for its Holyrood manifesto next year, were dismissed as "cynical expediency" and derided for showing "a depressing lack of vision" by drug experts.
The proposals, drawn up by Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, would require addicts to sign a "social contract", under which they would only get benefits and methadone if they agreed not to have children while addicted to drugs.
If addicts agree, but then breach the contract, they face having their children taken into care, as well as the withdrawal of treatment and benefits."
There seems to be at least one practical difficulty with these proposals. Junkies are not the most reliable people. If, having agreed a contract, an addict nevertheless becomes pregnant, are we really going to take the ensuing child into care and turn that addict on to the streets to fend for herself without treatment or benefits? Will that resolve the problem? And do we really want to go back to a system which abandons those who do not "deserve" help?
There is also an issue of principle. It may be incontrovertible that the chidren of junkies face - in the jargon - reduced life chances. But there are other potential categories of parents whose children may not reasonably expect to have as good a start in life as others. The children of smokers, alcoholics, single mothers and those suffering from certain genetic health conditions may also suffer a certain amount of disadvantage because of their parents. It is distasteful, to say the least, to single out junkies for harsh treatment.
Let us hope that Scottish Labour leaders think carefully before adopting the proposals.
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