The state’s opioid crisis remained at the top of the news this week as Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, Rachel Levine, called on physicians to prescribe opioids only when necessary for severe pain, Butler County Community College held a “Hope Night” to combat drug addiction and free doses of Naloxone, which rapidly reverses opioid overdoses, were handed out at the Butler County State Health Center.

Most disturbingly, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council released a study which found a higher than average rate of opioid use among pregnant Butler County women. According to the study, about 20 patients out of every 1,000 staying in hospitals for maternal care statewide in 2016 and 2017 used opioids. In Butler County, 29 out of every 1,000 used the drugs, which have been linked to premature birth and other complications.

Last year, fatal drug overdoses hit a record high 92 in Butler County, and the state’s Department of Health had noted that overdoses are currently the state’s worst public health issue.

While we commend local efforts — such as BC3’s event and this week’s Naloxone handout — in cutting that rate by more than half this year, these are merely Band-Aids for a gaping wound. While Naloxone can be a lifesaver, its rate of effectiveness is between 75 and 100 percent. And if a user picks up several doses per month, this means they are possibly narrowly escaping death on a weekly basis.

Elected representatives, medical professionals and community leaders have struggled to come up with a remedy for the crisis, which some have called this generation’s AIDS epidemic.

In the case of pregnant women using opioids, what is the solution? As a society, should we focus more on punishing pregnant users for endangering their unborn children or do we emphasize treatment?

In such cases, is there a way to prevent children being taken away from their mothers?

The 2017 arrest of Kasey Dischman, a seven-month pregnant woman who overdosed on heroin and gave birth to a premature child, is a case in point. The ACLU of Pennsylvania argued — and the court agreed — that a pregnant women cannot face criminal charges under the Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act as it deters her from seeking prenatal care.

Meanwhile, law enforcement contends that unborn children should be protected from drug-abusing parents.

We need to find a better way of ensuring that mothers who take opioids don’t pass on their addictions — or other complications — to their children.

Social service and law enforcement agencies should find better methods of preventing pregnant women from abusing opioids, rather than dealing with the situation after the fact. Dischman, for example, was on probation at the time she overdosed. Preventing a crisis is always more desirable than cleaning one up.