In this study of pregnant drug users who have experienced one or more violent events (physical/sexual or emotional) while pregnant, it details how drug use is both a survival strategy and a source of vulnerability to violence. One-hundred and twenty-six women from the San Francisco Bay area were interviewed who were or had recently been pregnant and had used marijuana, crack, cocaine, or heroin singly or in combination. Data concerning demographics, family, relationships, drug use, and violence histories were collected with a structured questionnaire. Of the 126 interviewees, 79 percent were selected on the basis of their violent experiences during pregnancy for an interview that focused on their drug use and violence histories. Findings suggest that pregnant drug users suffer severe stigmatization and degradation in a policy context that holds them solely responsible for the “bad product” of a drug-involved pregnancy. The participants needs were not being met by existing services. A third of the interviewees named police services, emergency rooms, and doctors as most helpful to them. The needs of the women interviewed were multi-layered, as well as overlapping, making help inaccessible and insufficient. Their problems were treated individually, rather than holistically. Each service area focused on the drug use, pregnancy, or violence, only addressing one problem at a time. In summation, given the lifelong abuse of 91 percent of the pregnant drug users interviewed, help that is predicated on the immediate discontinuance of all drug use is unrealistic. Notes and References