IN the last week, we have reported two stories about the deaths of young children caused by their mothers' drugs problems. These are stories that make you weep.

On Saturday, we told how Fiona Milson, 33, of Malton, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Her 18-month-old daughter Sadie died when she ingested a small amount of her mother's methadone - a heroin substitute.

Milson told the court: "I know I'm responsible for her death. I will always blame myself, torture myself. No matter how long I'm sent to prison for, I will be serving a life sentence in my head.

"I will never forget how she looked that morning..."

You need no words from experts or doctors when you've read that to warn you about the fatal dangers of drugs.

Yesterday, there was the case of five-year-old Jason Baillie who burned to death in his bedroom in Thornaby on Teesside while his mother, grandmother and her boyfriend were in the house recovering from the effects of crack cocaine.

Joanne Baillie, his 22-year-old mother, told the coroner that she was awoken from her drug haze by the sound of her son crying out for help.

She said: "I stood up and I was shouting to Jason to come to the door. I opened the door and the flames came up the stairs so I closed the door. I could not see Jason, so I laid back down on the bed because I felt weak."

Imagine: you are a mother, your house is on fire, your son is burning to death but you are so addled you can only collapse on a bed.

It is even more heart-breaking when you learn that the poor child was found in his school uniform under his bed. Can you imagine his terror as he crawled under there to escape the smoke and the flames?

In both cases, there have been calls for inquiries and accusatory questions for social services to answer. This is right - holes in the net need to be closed.

Yet the causes of these wasted lives are not failing social services. The cause is drugs. We must tell these stories to educate our children about the dangers of drugs and the horrible, squalid and sordid misery that comes with them.