Effects of maternal narcotic vs. nonnarcotic addiction on neonatal neurobehavior and infant development.

There is no question that the number of women using and abusing nonnarcotic drugs far exceeds the number who are addicted to narcotics (Chambers and Hart 1977). Current data show that 63% to 93.5% of women use analgesics during pregnancy and that sedative drug use ranges from 22% to 28% (Doering and Stewart 1978; Forfar and Nelson 1973; Hill 1973). However, until recently, little attention has been given to pregnancies complicated by the maternal use of drugs other than heroin and methadone.