A Brunswick woman was charged with endangering the welfare of a child Sunday after allegedly smoking heroin before driving with two children in Gardiner and stopping the car because she felt incapacitated by the drug, said Gardiner Police Chief James Toman.

Police first responded to Route 24 at 1:54 p.m. Sunday after getting a report that a woman had pulled her vehicle over and was overdosing on heroin – and that children were in the car.

They issued a summons to Ashley Theriault, 26, after she admitted to smoking heroin with an acquaintance in South Gardiner before driving north on Route 24 with two children in the back of the car and an unidentified passenger, Toman said.

Both children are Theriault’s, according to the initial complaint received by police, and both were younger than 10, Toman said.

When Theriault started to feel the effects of the heroin, Toman said, “She pulled off to the side of road thinking it would pass basically, and when she did not get any better, eventually her passenger grew concerned enough to call 911.”

Gardiner police and firefighters responded. Police charged Theriault with endangering the welfare of a child, Toman said, and she was brought to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta for treatment.

Police took custody of the children and they are now with a relative, Toman said. Police also planned to notify the state Department of Health and Human Services about the charge against Theriault.

In Waterville two weeks ago, a Winslow woman was arrested after police say they found her passed out in her car and with a needle in her arm. Her toddler was also in the car, according to police.

In September, an Ohio police department posted a photo to its Facebook page showing a couple who allegedly overdosed on heroin in their car and a little boy sitting alert in the back of the car.

The posting was controversial, with some advocates for addiction treatment arguing that the photo violated the privacy of the couple and the child. But the police department defended it, saying the public needs to be aware of the impact of the ongoing opiate epidemic.

That epidemic continues to worsen in Maine with more drug overdoses recorded this year than in all of 2015, according to numbers recently released by the state Attorney General’s Office.

Toman advised anyone who is addicted to opiates to seek treatment by contacting police departments, hospitals or agencies such as Kennebec Behavioral Health or Crisis & Counseling Centers.

When someone has used opiates and gotten behind the wheel of a car, he said, “You not only put your own life in danger, you also put the motoring public in danger.”