Question: My daughter is 29 weeks pregnant and has been smoking the drug "flakka" (bath salts, pvp, and crystal meth mixed). She has gone to one doctor appointment, but she is scared the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will take the baby so she won't go anymore. She is not findable. Can the baby suffer damage and what type?

Answer: 
There is a wide range of horrible things that can happen to the baby, most of which involve either miscarriages, early infant death, or life long consequences for both the mother and the child. It is **very bad** for a baby if the mother took Meth.

Pulling some information from [this website](http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/What_are_the_Effects_of_Crystal_Meth_during_Pregnancy), potential complications from meth use during pregnancy are:

* High blood pressure, which can cause kidney damage, heart damage, seizures, and maternal death
* Disruption of the placenta, which leads to internal bleeding and possibly death.
* Elevated risk of very-early-term delivery. Premature babies chances of survival outside of the hospital are small, so if your daughter refuses to go to hospital during delivery, that will be a big problem.
* DNA damage to the fetus. This is really bad and could cause the baby to die or be born deformed.
* Brain damage to the fetus. Again, really bad and potentially fatal.

There is also a long list of challenges the child could suffer during life, such as reduced IQ, depression, anxiety disorders, schizofrenia and more.
Unfortunately, not much is known about the effects of the drug Flakka on a fetus because the drug is so new. From what I've been able to glean through research, the baby has a very low chance of survival with chronic Flakka use and if the mother did manage to carry to term, the infant would likely have lots of physical and mental issues. 

As unpleasant as this suggestion may sound, your best bet is to find her and have her picked up by local law enforcement if she won't listen to reason. Some side effects of Flakka are loss of touch with reality and hallucinations often leading to bodily harm of the user. You as a mother and grandmother have an obligation to care for mother (your daughter) and baby when the mother is incapable of or unwilling to do so. I know the thought of incarceration is horrible but with the current outbreak of this extremely cheap and easily obtained high it's probably your best (if not only) choice to protect your daughter and her child.