I need to know about crack cocaine and the effects it has when children are expose to the smoke for any amount of time. I am in a court case and the people I am against are trying to take my daughter away from me by accusing me of using crack cocaine while I was holding her. She is 15 months old and my life, heart and soul. I have never touched the stuff in my life and know very little about its effects. My daughter is such a happy child and I have been told by strangers that she is the happiest child they have seen. I don't want to loose her and I am trying to collect all the information I can about crack. Please help me.:(

Passive exposure to crack/cocaine is recognized as a potential health hazard for young children living in households where cocaine (crack) is used,1-4 although the extent and implications of the problem have not been examined thoroughly. The physiologic risks of prenatal exposure to cocaine, including intrauterine growth retardation and low birth weight, have been well established.5-12 Studies of the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on infants and young children, although inconclusive, suggest cocaine impairs arousal, attention, and stress reactivity regulation.13-16 The postnatal use of cocaine by mothers or other adults in the infants' environment exposes infants and young children to crack/cocaine smoke during critical periods of brain development17 and physical growth. The passive exposure to crack/cocaine smoke likely occurs in much the same way that second-hand cigarette smoke has been found to be a risk factor to infants' and children's health.18 Exposure to crack smoke also may increase the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). One study reviewed autopsies from a series of 16 instances of SIDS and found cocaine detectable in the urine, as well as evidence of past crack/cocaine exposure in the environment where each of the children were shortly before death.19

I found this at Incidence of Passive Exposure to Crack/Cocaine and Clinical Findings in Infants Seen in an Outpatient Service -- Lustbader et al. 102 (1): e5 -- Pediatrics

Im not sure if it quite what you were looking for, but I hope it helps.

Good luck..

I would get your child's blood/urine analysed by a recognised firm, and then "stick it to them" if you are totally truthful in the no-exposure defence.

Crack is bad!

Lets think about this. If you truly have never used this drug, first you would not have said "while holding her", second you would not have this situation in the first place. Keep it real girl. That's the first thing you have to do. And if your daughter is as important to you as you say, then do what you know you need to do. Get clean! If you are smoking, then they are correct. You do NOT need to have custody of her. Your life is too unstable and we are too selfish in an addiction to care for another. Especially someone that depends on us 100%. Do the right thing. I'm speaking to you from experience. I'm an addict and mother myself.

1. What are the side affect's of second hand smoke?
I live in a building and the people across the Hall smoke crack Day and NIght.My children and I have went to the Dr and told me to report it to the Landlord "with a letter from him" and I put in a transfer for ASAP (because of how my kids and I felt from it). The people that are doing this across the hall from apartment are still living there, and are still smoking it because you can smell it in the halls and door ways'.
2. And I don't know what more I can do to get out them out of here faster?