Only 38 percent of low-income mothers who used illegal drugs received payments from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program in 2001, down from 54 percent in 1996, UPI reported Oct. 4.

Data on women ages 18-49, taken from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse and its successor, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, found that the percentage of drug-using women on welfare fell more sharply than among non-drug-using women. TANF participation among women who didn't use illicit drugs declined from 37 percent in 1996 to 31 percent in 2001.

Researchers noted that the TANF program has become a major intervention point for getting women into treatment; in 2002, for example, women on welfare who were identified as needing treatment were twice as likely to get services as those who were not on welfare.

The research appears in the American Journal of Public Health.