Teenagers, illicit drugs and pregnancy

The use of certain hallucinatory drugs by a section of the population has posed the problem of the possible effects of these drugs on the course and outcome of pregnancy. The users of these drugs are almost without exception adolescents and young adults. Multiple drugs are used without a clear idea of either dosage or purity of the compound. The prenatal patients who formed the basis for this prospective study, and the controls, were attending the prenatal clinic at the Vancouver General Hospital. The patients were followed throughout pregnancy and although it was impossible to identify the effect of a specific drug, the outcome in relation to the multiple factors involved is presented and discussed.