http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16773732.htm

Cases show children facing cocaine exposure

Sumter police are continuing to sort out why a 1-year-old girl has tested positive for cocaine. At the same time, the search continues for a Columbia couple accused of exposing their 3-year-old son to the drug.

The two incidents have raised questions about how often children are exposed to drugs and what the effects are.

Virginia Williamson, general counsel for the state Department of Social Services, said it is "unusual" for children to be tested unless a physician or caseworker saw evidence to suggest they had been exposed to or given illegal drugs, she said.

Children exposed to cocaine can suffer lifelong health problems. Because cocaine is a stimulant, it can raise blood pressure and heart rate to unsafe levels in children, said Frankie Long, treatment and women's services coordinator for the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

Depending on the amount, it could cause "some heart problems in the long run because of the quick rise in blood pressure," she said.

Typically, for a child to test positive for cocaine, the drug would have to be ingested, Long said. But she said research has shown that children can be affected by inhaling cocaine smoke.

"It would probably [have] to be ... a significant amount," she said.

Columbia Police have entered Morris E. "Gene" Porter, his common-law wife Carol Ann Cannaday and their 3-year-old son into the national law enforcement database that would let other police agencies know the couple is wanted, said spokeswoman Lauren Leach. The two have been charged with unlawful conduct toward a child. In January, family court ordered drug tests for all three, which came back positive for cocaine.

The boy's grandmother raised concerns about the child's welfare, said Sgt. Florence McCants, department spokeswoman. Police are not sure when the family left the Columbia area and initially believed they might have been in the Myrtle Beach area, Leach said.

No Amber Alert has been issued because the child was not abducted and police have no reason to believe he is in imminent danger.

"They could really be anywhere at this point," Leach said. "We're depending on the public to help us."

The family is thought to be traveling in a black-and-gray 1994 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer with a spare tire mounted on rear door and S.C. license tag 253 VUC.

In the Sumter case, a grandmother took the child to the hospital Feb. 16 after she was "acting funny," according to a police report. A drug test showed the child had what is thought to be cocaine in her system.

No one has been charged in the case. The solicitor's office said Thursday it has not received the case and that it's up to law enforcement to file charges that most likely include child endangerment.