The new report revealing the extent of drug dependency among new-born babies in Bradford is shocking. More than nine in every thousand infants born at the BRI were suspected of being dependent on illegal drugs. In other words last year 67 babies born at that hospital had to go through the trauma of getting their mother's drugs out of their system in the days and weeks after they were born and the figures appear to be rising year by year.

It is a terrible start to life for these children, many of whom face a grim future anyway as their addict mothers struggle to bring them up.

There might be little patience with people who become involved with drugs, given that no-one can now be unaware of the damage they can do to the lives of those who start to use them. However, those who inflict dependency and misery upon themselves do the same to the child in their womb when they become pregnant.

Fortunately in Bradford they can turn to the special clinic at the BRI which will help them to wean themselves off illegal drugs, increasing the chances of their baby being born unaffected. Every effort must be made to persuade as many addict mothers as possible to take advantage of this service.

It is yet another example of the way the drugs culture gobbles up resources that are desperately needed elsewhere. In this case, though, there can be no doubt that it is money well spent to protect the innocents whose mothers, for whatever reason, have become involved with drugs in the first place.