The Chronicle has been giving excellent coverage to the issue of
drug-exposed infants (Aug. 30, "Back from the abyss; Crack cocaine
babies aren't doomed to failure, studies find"). I was misquoted
several times in the article or quoted out of context, however.

I was quoted as saying that poverty is the "only" factor in the
developmental delays and behavioral differences often attributed to
crack use. Within the full context of a lengthy interview, I said
poverty is the "primary" factor.

I also talked about the debilitating effects of prematurity that can
be directly attributed to the use of cocaine and the problem of
poly-drug abuse among crack users. The effects of alcohol, when used
alone or combined with other drugs, are far more damaging to the fetus
than the use of crack alone.

I did not say crack has "no long-lasting detrimental effects" but,
rather, that the preponderance of research, to date, has not found
long-lasting detrimental effects.

Nonetheless, researchers are now examining more subtle changes that
may occur inside neurons and this research may -- or may not -- yield
additional insights.

Dr. Susan P. Robbins