I’ve done some volunteer work with heroin addicts and I’ve seen a lot of babies born to addicts that were able to thrive once removed from the disfunction. Babies are very resilient, much more so than we think. Of course, it can be a tough few days but once they are healthy, they have a chance to fully thrive. The worse is living their first years in an abusive environment - that’s worse than receiving drugs in utero. My mom was an addict when my sister was born (not when she was pregnant with me) and my sister is 24 and amazingly healthy, intelligent and has had zero mental issues growing up. I saw much more of the situation my mom was in and tried to protect my little sister with my dad. Both me and my dad are more traumatised than my little sister who received the drugs in utero but was able to be a lot more protected from the insanity and confusion when born. I have an anxiety disorder and take meds for it, my dad has severe anxiety too but refuses to take meds. My sister who was actually born with drugs in her system is healthy and has never had anxiety or panic attacks or any issues. I believe that the environment a kid grows in is more detrimental to their mental health than the drug exposure in utero. But that’s just from personal experience. And yes, my mom was an addict (she’s been clean for years), but she was never a child beater or a murderer. She never touched me or my sister but it was still scary for me to see her in such a bad state and also the fights and abuse that she directed towards my dad. Still, nothing like what this JC woman did. My biggest fears was that my mom was going to die, kill herself or kill my dad. Luckily, the violence and abuse was not directed towards the children. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t emotional abuse for me but I’ll count my blessings considering my situation was better than so many others.