( CNN ) -- According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , prescription drug overdose deaths in Florida are up a staggering 265 % since 2003 . But it 's not just the deaths that have Florida officials worried ; it 's the births . `` We saw the number of crack babies that died , and this is just another version of that , '' Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said . `` We all need to be concerned . '' According to state health records , nearly 1,400 Florida babies were born suffering from drug withdrawal syndrome in 2010 , a fourfold increase since 2003 . The state does not track the specific drug the babies are hooked on , but south Florida doctors and neonatal nurses believe the increase is due to a sharp increase in pregnant women addicted to prescription drugs . `` They go through withdrawal symptoms , '' said Mary Osuch , the head nurse at Broward General Medical Center 's neonatal intensive care unit . `` They 're crampy , miserable . They sweat . They can have rapid breathing . Sometimes , they can even have seizures . '' According to the White House Office on Drug Control Policy , prescription drug abuse is the nation 's fastest-growing drug problem . Marsha Currant , who runs the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center near Fort Lauderdale , says prescription drug addiction overtook crack in 2009 as the main problem afflicting the pregnant women who are treated there . `` In the very beginning , it was really 100 % crack cocaine , '' said Currant , who started keeping track of drug trends in 1995 . `` We see a lot more prescription drugs now . '' Currant says new mothers who are hooked on prescription drugs are often reluctant to seek help for fear the authorities will take their babies from them . `` We wanted to have a place where women did n't have to chose between getting treatment and having their children go into foster care , '' she said . Compounding the problem , women who are addicted to prescription drugs and find themselves pregnant can not safely go off the drugs without medical supervision . They need to be weaned off slowly , or the baby will go into withdrawal in the womb . At the Susan B. Anthony Center , one mother who became hooked on prescription drugs after her husband died says she felt her baby suffering while she was getting clean . `` I know that I 'm going through stuff getting off the pills . So what 's she going through ? She ca n't talk . She 's just a baby , '' Jessica said . Thanks to the center , Jessica was weaned off oxycodone before her baby , Casey , was born . But she fears the long-term effects of her drug abuse on her daughter , who has been suffering from respiratory problems . `` I want to make sure that she does n't hurt anymore , '' Jessica said . `` She does n't deserve that , because she 's a princess . '' Jessica graduated from the center 's recovery program last week .
Thousands of Florida babies have been born addicted to drugs . Infants ` ` go through withdrawal symptoms , '' nurse says . She says that drug abuse is nation 's fastest - growing health problem . Mothers are often reluctant to seek help .