Increased Heroin Use By Women Leading To More Babies Born Addicted

The CBS Evening News (7/8, story 7, 2:30, Pelley) reported, “America’s heroin problem is getting worse. There’s a new report from the CDC that says in just six years heroin use has risen 150 percent to more than a half million Americans, and over a decade, use by women alone is up 100 percent.” As a result, there are increasing numbers of babies born addicted to heroin.

USA Today (7/9, Ungar) reports that admissions of heroin- or opioid-addicted infants “to US neonatal intensive care units nearly quadrupled from 2004 through 2013, from seven to 27 per 1,000 admissions, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found.” In the meantime, “the overall incidence nearly doubled in four years nationally, with one affected baby born every 25 minutes by 2012,” according to a study published in the Journal of Perinatology.

Related Links:

— “Born into suffering: More babies arrive dependent on drugs,” Laura Unger, USA Today, July 8, 2015.

Posted in In The News.