While it certainly isn’t the booming business it once was, stealing baby formula to buy heroin for resale on the black market is certainly not unheard of in most towns. Many who are caught admit that they are stealing baby formula to fund their drug habit. Police say they believe 80 percent of crime can be tied to narcotics.

Last month, two men were arrested for shoplifting more than $600 worth of baby formula from several Target stores in the Orlando, Fla. area. According to a Sept. 20 article in the Orlando Sentinel, the men entered the store, grabbed a gray plastic bin, and filled it with baby formula. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department had been investigating reports from employees at another Target that the suspects also stole formula from there. In June, a man and a woman in Bethlehem, Pa., were charged with stealing hundreds of dollars of baby formula from two stores in the area, selling the formula and using the money to support their heroin habits. Surveillance cameras captured the couple walking around the stores, filling shopping carts with 24 canisters of baby formula, then leaving without paying.

The real concern is that these people need to get treatment. If addiction is leading to stealing, and other crimes, it is clear that the answer is treatment. Seabrook can offer inpatient, outpatient and family care programs to address your addiction and help you live a life in recovery.