July 5th, 1970s. Geraldo Rivera for ABC news investigates two facilities housing pregnant mothers addicted to heroin, exposing how it is the children who suffer most of all.
“In New York, the city that has the worst heroin affliction in the world there are only two special programs caring for less than 150 pregnant addicts and addicted mothers.”
We visit a branch of Odyssey house, a building donated by the city but with no money to equip the facility for child care. The other facility is also visited, and we learn how methadone, the primary treatment for heroin addicts, does nothing to alleviate the issue for babies born addicted. Mothers are interviewed who upon learning they were pregnant tried to access a facility to better themselves, were not allowed in due to being pregnant.
This expose and others like it were the some of the first of their kind, shedding light on social issues that few other reporters dared to discuss.
While New York City has improved it’s “ranking” since 1979, heroin addiction and related deaths remain a prominent issue in society.
This day, Geraldo’s show history.