Maternal methamphetamine use during pregnancy and child outcome: what do we know?

Trecia Wouldes, Linda LaGasse, Janie Sheridan, Barry Lester‘P’, ‘Pure’, or ‘Burn’ are names that have become associated with potent forms ofmethamphetamine made in illegal laboratories in New Zealand. The dramatic increasein the use of these drugs in New Zealand has largely been associated with the youngmale population. However, it has become apparent that a growing number of NewZealand women are also using methamphetamine during their pregnancy. Theobjective of this article was to review the literature that has associatedmethamphetamine-use with adverse developmental outcomes.What little we know about the effects of ‘methamphetamine-use during pregnancy onthe developing child’ comes from animal studies, a few human studies that have anumber of methodological problems, and the recent cocaine literature. Evidence fromthese studies suggest there are likely to be adverse developmental effects for childrenexposed prenatally to methamphetamine, either because of the drug