Word: cracking
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While poor, black ghetto children have attracted the most attention, they are far from being the only members of the crack generation. Cocaine abuse is common among members of the white upper and middle classes, but it is hidden better. Their babies are usually born at private hospitals that rarely ask mothers about drug use or screen them and their children for illegal chemicals. A 1989 Florida study found similar rates of drug use among pregnant white and black women of equal socioeconomic status, but only 1% of white abusers were reported to authorities, compared with nearly 11% of blacks...
Billie, the kindergartner, is a white child whose mother was addicted to crack, among other drugs. Soon after birth, Billie was whisked away from her and given to wealthy adoptive parents. Growing up in a stable environment, however, has not prevented him from being kicked out of four preschools for disorganized, rowdy behavior. Only when he started at this new school, where his teachers are trained to handle drug-exposed children, did he begin to calm down...
...crack kids are not the first children to be devastated by drugs while their mothers were pregnant. For many years, the unborn have been exposed to opiates, barbiturates, inhaled cocaine and a panoply of other drugs. And fetal alcohol syndrome, brought on by drinking during pregnancy, is believed to be a leading cause of mental retardation in the young...
...coming of crack made a bad situation worse. This readily available, easily ingested chemical has lured far more women into addiction than any other hard drug has. By the latest estimates, more than 1 million U.S. women use cocaine. Moreover, crack has spurred the use of other drugs. Women who take cocaine are likely to use heroin to prolong a high, then tranquilizers and alcohol to come down. They may indulge in marijuana, PCP and amphetamines. As a result, many crack babies steep in a stew of drugs while in the womb...
...among doctors, social workers, educators and law- enforcement specialists. On one side are those who fear that most of the * children are irredeemably harmed; on the other are those who firmly believe that with enough early treatment for babies and their mothers and special education, the large majority of crack kids can lead normal lives...