Federal welfare reform legislation imposes a lifetime ban barring women with felony drug convictions from receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) benefits or food stamps unless a State acts to waive the ban. This qualitative, preliminary study interviewed 26 women with felony drug convictions or pending charges and more than 30 criminal justice and public health staff members. The article examines the women's histories of childhood sexual and physical abuse and domestic violence, and the connection between that abuse and their drug use and convictions. The women repeatedly experienced multiple types of violence, which were thoroughly intertwined with their drug use, abusive relationships, and criminal activities, making the lifetime ban on public assistance benefits now in existence in 22 States harsh and counterproductive. Pennsylvania, the site of this research, typifies the States in which the ban remains. The article concludes that a lifetime denial of subsistence benefits to women such as those interviewed for this study, regardless of what else they do or how hard they try, makes their recovery from addiction much more difficult and undermines their efforts to rebuild their lives and their relationships with their children. Appendix, references