Heroin 195tests; one group of researchers noted that prenatal exposure to alcohol has
much more impact than heroin, and another investigator noted that girls’ test
scores were normal.
Among pregnant Australian women in drug treatment programs who use
both heroin and methadone, infant mortality is higher than among women
who only use methadone, but researchers believe the difference is not due to
heroin but due to multiproblem lifestyles in which heroin is just one of many
problems. This theme was also brought out by a study in Israel comparing
children of parents who abused heroin and children of parents who did not,
while at the same time comparing home environments. The investigators dis-
covered that assorted problems suffered by children of heroin users had much
more to do with general conditions at home than with any chemical influence
of the drug on fetal development, a conclusion supported by still more Israeli
research and consistent with findings by the U.S. National Institute on Drug
Abuse and other researchers.
Breast-feeding by heroin-using mothers is considered safe for their infants.
Passage of heroin into the milk is doubtful, and levels of heroin’s breakdown
products (such as morphine) are low enough to avoid hazard.
Additional scientific information may be found in:
Cygan, J., M. Trunsky, and T. Corbridge. “Inhaled Heroin-Induced Status Asthmaticus:
Five Cases and a Review of the Literature.”Chest117 (2000): 272–75.
“Diamorphine.” InTherapeutic Drugs, ed. C. Dollery. 2d ed. New York: Churchill Liv-
ingstone, 1999. D70–D75.
Ornoy, A., et al. “The Developmental Outcome of Children Born to Heroin-Dependent
Mothers, Raised at Home or Adopted.”Child Abuse and Neglect20 (1996): 385–96.
Sawynok, J. “The Therapeutic Use of Heroin: A Review of the Pharmacological Liter-
ature.”Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology64 (1986): 1–6.
Schneider, J.W., and S.L. Hans. “Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Opioids on Focused
Attention in Toddlers during Free Play.”Journal of Developmental and Behavioral
Pediatrics17 (1996): 240–47.
Sneader, W. “The Discovery of Heroin.”Lancet352 (November 21, 1998): 1697–99.
Zuckerman, G.B., et al. “Neurologic Complications Following Intranasal Administra-
tion of Heroin in an Adolescent.”Annals of Pharmacotherapy30 (1996): 778–81.
Notes- P. Biernacki,Pathways from Heroin Addiction: Recovery without Treatment. Health,
Society, and Policy series, ed. S. Ruzek and I.K. Zola (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1986), 6, 36, 55; T.S. Blair, “The Relation of Drug Addiction to Industry,”Journal
of Industrial Hygiene1 (October 1919): 288; Blum, “Student Characteristics and Major
Drugs,” in R.H. Blum, et al.,Students and Drugs: College and High School Observations,
The Jossey-Bass Behavioral Science Series and the Jossey-Bass Series in Higher Edu-
cation (published jointly) (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969), 77–78; I. Chein, et al.,The
Road to H: Narcotics, Delinquency, and Social Policy(New York: Basic Books, 1964), 358;
T.D. Crothers,Morphinism and Narcomanias from Other Drugs(Philadelphia: W.B. Saun-
ders and Company, 1902), 31 (Not all of the Crothers book has withstood later scientific
advances); W.R. Cuskey, A.W. Klein, and W. Krasner,Drug-Trip Abroad: American Drug
Refugees in Amsterdam and London(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1972), 94–96; W.C. Cutting, “Morphine Addiction for 62 Years,”Stanford Medical Bul-
letin1 (August 1942): 39–41; T. Duster,The Legislation of Morality: Law, Drugs, and Moral