Plant Teacher |
Public hospitals continue to drug-test mothers and newborn babies for marijuana, despite the fact that such tests have been shown to be inaccurate and that common soaps used to wash infants can cause false cannabis positives on such tests. And tragically, mothers are often arrested and separated from their babies.
Mothers in New York City, for instance, who test positive for marijuana after the delivery are likely to have a Child Protective Services investigation to contend with, before they can even get the baby home, reports Kiri Blakeley at The Stir. More than a dozen maternity wards in the Big Apple routinely test new moms for marijuana, then turn the results over to city authorities.