Two notes: Heroin was only made a controlled substance in England because Physicians were upset that Chemists (Pharmacists) were making all the money...so it was controled and they got their cut.
In one of our studies we found that babies of mothers using cocaine (you can't tell the difference in form when its in the body)were less likely to have problems than mothers of smokers.
:-)
"Moreover, the physicians also felt that drugs were not the cause of the problems being attributed to the babies. Lack of nutrition and health care during pregnancy were. A Florida report noted, "In the end, it is safer for the baby to be born to a drug-using, anemic, or diabetic mother who visits the doctor throughout her pregnancy than to be born to a normal woman who does not."
The author blames the Govt. for cutting funding as the root of all evil. Thomas Sowell pointed out in a recent article that the 1970s study used to link lack of prenatal care and infant mortality was bogus. In the study's own words, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans with little or no prenatal care had the same or better outcomes for their babies than White women. NOt so good for African American women, however. Has anything changed over the last 30 years? Infant mortality has improved for all races, but African American rates are still worse than for the other races. What else is going on with African American women? What about the women who know they can get free prenatal care and still won't do it? That is more the case today than the reverse. I am all for Myth-smashing, but the conclusions that this author, and lots of researchers as well, let their political agenda overwhelm the truth. May we all say, DUH!