I was just reading today that marijuana use while pregnant can cause pretty severe and permanent brain damage in the developing fetus. It prevents neural connections from forming.
This, in addition to precipitating psychotic behavior in adolescents, plus the fairly heavy dose of carcinogens, plus the long-lasting memory impairment following even light use—it all points to the fact that this legalization movement is going to have some severe consequences later on.
Do we really need to increase the number of drug-addled people, over what we already have with drugs being illegal?
I do not think this is a good experiment to be playing with society.
Everything you eat, drink and smoke while you are pregnant affects your baby. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt the baby’s growth. The baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life. Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.
Children with fetal alcohol syndrome may:
•Be born small.
•Have problems eating and sleeping.
•Have problems seeing and hearing.
•Have trouble following directions and learning how to do simple things.
•Have trouble paying attention and learning in school.
•Need special teachers and schools.
•Have trouble getting along with others and controlling their behavior.
•Need medical care all their lives.
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/DrinkingPregnancy_HTML/pregnancy.htm