Pregnancy and its effects on opiate and alcohol use

This study explores how the provision of opiate substitution therapy to pregnant women could achieve a reduction in heroin use. It further explores whether such a reduction is accompanied by an increase in alcohol consumption, and concludes that women do not substitute decreased opiate use with increased alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Thirty women who had been pregnant and in drug treatment at a community drug team in Dudley West Midlands agreed to participate in this study. For many, this was an opportunity to express their fears and anxieties about being drug‐using mothers and being in drug treatment. Data was collected by semi‐structured interviews and collection of urine samples.