ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : Babies and Mothers--Free From Drugs : Health: Pregnancy offers the best opportunity to intervene and break the cycle of addiction.

Janine just wanted to be a good mother. She started drinking alcohol when she was 15 and using methamphetamines when she was 16. She drank to numb the pain of a boyfriend’s death.

By the time she was 21, she had a daily alcohol habit and knew she was an alcoholic. While pregnant, Janine drank beer and tomato juice with her prenatal vitamins. Soon she was drinking up to two cases of beer a day. After going into premature labor, Janine’s baby arrived--twin girls, both born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Like Janine, many women will experience the devastating effects of alcohol and other drug abuse. Babies that fit in the palm of your hand, with skin too fragile to touch, with tubes and needles sticking into their tiny bodies, keeping them alive--premature babies born to addicted mothers.

Drug abuse touches women of all colors and all economic backgrounds. From celebrities to women living on the street, drug abuse knows no boundaries.

At least one out of nine babies in the United States is born to a mother who uses alcohol and other drugs while pregnant. In California, that’s 69,000 mothers, or 11% of the state’s women. This problem has a staggering economic impact when you consider that each drug-exposed child can cost $1 million over a lifetime.

Fortunately, most of this unnecessary cost can be avoided. For every dollar spent on prevention, $30 in return benefits are saved. Prevention, education and treatment for women are where the real cost-saving opportunities exist.

This year, more than $55 million is targeted to fight perinatal substance abuse. The governor’s Perinatal Alcohol, Drug Treatment and Education program has already served more than 8,000 mothers and their children.

Perinatal Substance Abuse Awareness Week 1994 was a time for individual and community-based action to recognize intervention and treatment as a solution for these women and their children.

First, preventing this disease before it starts offers the best return on investment for taxpaying citizens. Second, there must be equal access to comprehensive prenatal health care, including drug treatment, for all women. Women who do not receive prenatal care are almost three times more likely to use alcohol or other drugs, and three times more likely to smoke.

Next, women need intervention for their drug use, not incarceration. Drug use is a public health problem requiring treatment. We need to ensure that drug-addicted mothers receive the treatment they need to live a drug-free healthy lifestyle for the sake of themselves, their babies and their families.

Perinatal substance abuse is a significant public health problem. Not only does it cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year, but the loss of promising lives remains even more devastating. Californians can be proud that we are leading the nation in providing treatment for these women and their children. About 86% of babies born to women in perinatal programs are born alcohol- and drug-free, indicating the success of these services.

According to the American Medical Assn., there is no safe level of alcohol, drug or tobacco use during pregnancy. Drinking alcohol while pregnant may result in low birth weight, facial defects, small head size, learning and behavior problems, or fetal alcohol syndrome. Cocaine use during pregnancy has been associated with premature birth and marked neurobehavioral deficiencies in the infant. Use of tobacco during pregnancy may increase the risk of low birth weight, spontaneous abortion and stillbirth.

Research indicates that pregnancy offers the best opportunity for intervention. Breaking this devastating cycle of addiction could mean freedom from the confines of their disease for women like Janine.

There is hope and help. There are treatment centers in Orange County and statewide that can help women from harming themselves and their unborn baby. If you are pregnant, give yourself and your unborn baby the gift of life free from alcohol and other drug abuse. You deserve a chance to make a difference.