Program Weans Mothers, Unborn Babies From Drugs

Coco estimates that she has tried to kick her heroin addiction at least 40 times since she first stuck a needle in her arm at the age of 16.

Now, 35 years old and five months pregnant with her fourth child, Coco is using a methadone-treatment program to try to end the habit that threatens to make a heroin addict of her unborn baby.

“I want to end it,” said Coco, who asked that her full name not be published. “I’m tired, I’m fed up.”

In the kitchen of a friend’s apartment in Ventura, Coco displayed the tools of her habit--two hypodermic needles and a spoon--which she keeps wrapped in plastic and hidden inside a small cardboard box.

Coco said she feels fine after a dose of methadone, a synthetic narcotic that is less habit-forming than heroin, but she can’t bring herself to throw the needles away.

“What if something goes wrong and I need a fix?” she said. “What if the car breaks down and I can’t get to a dose of methadone?”

She put the needles and spoon back in the box and pushed it aside.

Coco is one of 18 mothers and pregnant women who are being treated for drug and alcohol addictions at the Moms and Kids Recovery Center, a county-run program that opened last week in Ventura.

Touted as the only program in Ventura County designed to treat expectant mothers with addiction problems, it provides free and low-cost prenatal care, stress counseling and chemical dependency services on an outpatient basis, said Cathy Puccetti, director of the recovery center.

“It’s a relatively new approach to treating pregnant women,” she said, adding that the program is primarily funded by a five-year federal grant.

The number of drug-dependent babies born each year in Ventura County is not known.

However, Puccetti said that in 1985 the county’s Public Social Services Agency requested court custody of seven newborns who were exposed to drugs by their mothers. In 1988, she said, that number jumped to 78.

For women like Coco, the only recommended alternative provided by the recovery center is a methadone-treatment program. Under the treatment, regular doses of methadone are gradually reduced over a 21-day period.

But the treatment is not completely benign.

Expectant mothers on methadone are likely to give birth to a child addicted to the narcotic. For at least a month, the baby will suffer withdrawal symptoms, including tremors, shaking, vomiting and diarrhea, according to David Kastign, director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the Ventura County Medical Center.

The newborn will be kept in a room with low lighting and minimal stimulation, he said. The baby might even be given small doses of opium to counter the withdrawal symptoms, Kastign said.

“If it’s on methadone it’s going to have some major withdrawals,” he said. “It’s not a good drug for a baby.”

The symptoms associated with heroin addiction can be less severe and shorter lived in newborns, Kastign said. Some doctors have even discouraged methadone use by pregnant women, he said.

However, Kastign said methadone is the preferred alternative for heavy heroin users like Coco, who said she shot $150 worth of heroin into her arm each day. One reason is that intravenous heroin use brings with it the added risk of AIDS.

Coco said she would rather end her habit “cold turkey” and give birth drug-free, but medical experts say the withdrawal symptoms she will experience can cause a miscarriage.

“We would literally have to have a doctor by her side step by step,” said Gil Thoegersen, a psychologist and manager of the Moms and Kids Recovery Center.

Sandra Velasquez, a drug counselor at Latinas Residential Treatment Center in Oxnard, said she has had calls from many women who are faced with the same frustrating circumstances.

“It really aggravates me,” she said. “What are these women supposed to do?”

Coco, a Latina with tired brown eyes, said she was raised by an alcoholic father and had two brothers die from drug and alcohol related ailments. She is divorced and her boyfriend, the father of her unborn child, was jailed two weeks ago for failing to report to a parole officer.

She doesn’t remember why she first began abusing drugs.

“I can’t say what started it,” she said. “It’s just the cultural thing, I guess. It was the thing to do.”

Coco said she once worked as a counselor at a drug treatment program and has supplemented her income by stealing steaks from local supermarkets.

“Within an hour I could make $100,” she said. “My kids have been living on filet mignon.”

Coco said she became more determined to end her habit when one of her brothers died from heroin use two months ago.

Coco and Velasquez said they have called recovery centers throughout Ventura County looking for a program that can help Coco kick her habit without the use of methadone.

“If I had cancer, someone would do something,” she said.

Primary Purpose, a private, nonprofit organization in Oxnard, operates a detoxification center and a 30-day residential program. However, officials at Primary Purpose turned Coco away, saying they could not accommodate her.

“Our medical information is that detox for a woman on heroin is very dangerous,” said Marina Ross, the program’s executive director. “We can’t tailor our programs for their needs.”

Like the Moms and Kids Recovery Center, Primary Purpose allows patients to pay on a sliding scale, depending on how much they can afford, she said. Primary Purpose does not provide methadone treatment.

Even if she drops the habit long enough to have a drug-free birth, Coco said she is not sure she can stay clean. For now, she is just taking her life 24 hours at a time.

“I just want my old self back,” she said. “I lost myself somewhere.”