Where Children Are Unsafe

In Taiwan, there has been a recent outbreak of adults drugging children (BBC, June 20, 2023). One incident took place in a preschool where the staff are accused of sedating children by giving them phenobarbital and benzodiazepines via addictive cough syrups. Parents noticed their children going through withdrawal and reported the incident. The school has since been closed, and school directors fined. The principal and five teachers were arrested and are now free on bail.

In an apparently unrelated incident in a different part of the island, the local health department found four doctors at a local medical practice guilty of “misconduct and improper use of phenobarbital on about 20 children.” As a result, the practice was ordered to close for six months and the doctors were fined. In an attempt to identify any additional misuse of sedatives, one hospital in Taipei has begun offering free drug screenings for children.

Schools and doctors’ offices are supposed to be places where children are safe, and teachers and doctors are supposed to be trusted. Yet, as is too common in our broken world, locations that should be the safest for children are not safe at all. However, Jesus Christ will soon return and set up His perfect kingdom on the earth, creating a world so safe for children that parents will allow their sons and daughters to play in the streets (Zechariah 8:5) and even a child among wild animals will have no need to fear hurt or harm (Isaiah 11:1–9). To learn more about this wonderful future time, read or listen to The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?