The researchers say babies whose mothers used cocaine while pregnant don't score lower than unexposed infants on developmental and physical measures in early childhood. The court ruled that involuntary drug testing of maternity patients, which has lead to arrests and incarceration, amounts to an unconstitutional search. However, the court allowed states to bar people, including mothers, convicted of drug-related felonies from collecting certain welfare payments and to deny financial aid, including Supplemental Security Income and disability insurance, to drug and alcohol users. Poverty is the key After accounting for exposure to other substances, such alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, cocaine's effects on child development evaporated, the study says. Moreover, the researchers say it's impossible to separate the influence of the drug from the quality of the growing child's environment, including proper nutrition, education and access to medical care.
Poverty is the overriding insult.
Poverty corrodes childhood. Indeed, babies born into poor homes to cocaine-abusing women fare just as well, or as poorly, as poor infants whose mothers didn't take drugs, she says. The researchers say that early lag is likely due to heavy maternal use of tobacco during pregnancy, which has been shown to retard infant development. Frank says society stigmatizes women who use cocaine while pregnant, and even attempts to jail them, while offering help to those who smoke tobacco, even though that substance is far more harmful to their unborn children. Dr. Ira Chasnoff, a Chicago physician who specializes in the effects of maternal substance abuse on child development, says the latest study isn't surprising, since it confirms earlier work.