Posted on 01/01/2018 9:24:04 AM PST by MarvinStinson
California - A new study has found that smoking marijuana is increasing among pregnant women in California, which leads to health concerns about the unborn child.
The study was published on Dec. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, according to Fox News, and used the medical records of 279,000 women residing in California who were on Kaiser Permanente, a health care service.
Women who agreed to participate were asked to answer a questionnaire when they were about eight weeks pregnant, and take a drug test to see if they tested positive for marijuana use. In the study, researchers found that marijuana consumption among pregnant women in the state has risen from 2009 to 2016 from 4.2 percent to 7.1 percent.
Kelly Young-Wolff, the study’s lead researcher, and Dr. Nancy Goler, a researcher, said their study shows how marijuana might potentially harm an unborn child.
"Our study is important because it addressed key limitations of prior studies by investigating trends in prenatal marijuana use using data from a large California health care system with gold standard universal screening for prenatal marijuana use," Goler and Young-Wolff told Reuters.
"We were concerned to find that the prevalence of marijuana use in pregnancy is increasing more quickly among younger females, aged 24 and younger, and to see the high prevalence of use in this age group," Young-Wolff said.
Both Young-Wolff and Goler noted marijuana was the “most commonly used illegal drug during pregnancy,” and could “impair fetal growth and neuro-development,” Reuters reported.
Marijuana use may be on the rise because recent legalization of its recreational use in some states "has made people think of the drug as less dangerous, even during pregnancy," according to Barbara Yankey, a researcher at Georgia State University.
"Because of the possibility of concurrent use of marijuana and other substances of abuse, the evidence of its direct association with preterm labor, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, low birthweight and stillbirth is still debatable, though these adverse effects lean more towards an increased likelihood of occurrence," Yankey said.
“The more we study cannabis use during pregnancy, the more we are realizing how harmful it can be,” Dr. Marcel Bonn-Miller, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia said. She was not involved in the study.
California will make recreational marijuana possession legal in 2018.
During discussions about legalization, people often bring up alcohol and the well known dangers of alcohol and the fact that alcohol is legal. This is contrasted with the apparent relative safety of marijuana and the counter-intuitive illegality of marijuana in most locations.
Of course, society recognizes that alcohol should be used responsibly. Many, many people fail in this regard, but the concept of responsible drinking is not controversial.
As marijuana is legalized in more states, users will have to make an effort to be sensible. Based on what I’m hearing from CO and CA, this is not actually happening.
Great.
Something to really look forward to.
Its the weed smoking pro peace activists / marxists of the 60’s and 70’s who made the decisions during Bush, Clinton and the Obama Government until the people woke up...
So, their planting a whole new crop of brain addled youth.
Here’s whe’re we find out if Marijuana truly is “non-addictive.
“Duuude!”
“Awww, baby said his first word.”
I’m wondering how many long term or multi-generational studies have been done that fully explore the full impact marijuana can after many years of use or after a few generations of users in ones ancestry.
“...users will have to make an effort to be sensible.”
Can you pinpoint, in all of human history, where the general population was disciplined with any kind of powerful recreational stimulant?
I know a couple of serious dumbass brothers, and I can guarantee zero pot use for generations untold.
Why should the mothers care?
The taxpayers will take care of the problem.
They are capable of making a choice. They are making the wrong, deliberate choice. Like fictional lemmings, democrats are galloping over a cliff, with the expectation that there will be a Leftist cushion at the bottom.
It's a new world. Sucks to be them. Why should they be shown any compassion? They should be put down.
Or is it that Pot head girls are easy and irresponsible? Just sayin...
“As marijuana is legalized in more states, users will have to make an effort to be sensible. Based on what I’m hearing from CO and CA, this is not actually happening.”
Logically, I don’t think there is such a thing as “sensible” marijuana use. It never should have been legalized. We will pay for this as a society. The pro-marijuana libertarians and leftists simply cannot see why this is so.
When I was pregnant I was reluctant to take an OTC pain killer for fear of harming my baby.
Yeah, pregnancy is "natural". So are deformities.
>>Based on what I’m hearing from CO and CA, this is not actually happening.
Drop the bomb: Test them ALL.
https://www.google.com/#q=hair+follicle+drug+test
Snip snip Pot Heads!
“It’s an herb. It’s harmless”
These women probably drink while pregnant as well
Surprise surprise surprise
With the pro-legalization propaganda that portrays marijuana as a harmless pastime, I am not surprised that so many pregnant women are using it.
There are reasons that marijuana was made illegal. These reasons have been buried under the onslaught of conspiratorial propaganda, but I think that we will find out (again) why our forefathers did not want this stuff to be legal.
As more and more people use it, the damage it causes will be less and less easy to conceal, even with NORML’s strong advocacy. And when there are reports of adverse effects (including permanent brain damage), the marijuana advocates can be counted on to claim those reports are nothing but government lies.
Meanwhile, what are these women doing to their babies?
I remember reading one study back in the 1980s that marijuana use by women had an effect on future male children. It decreased initiative and ambition on these kids, who weren't even conceived yet at the time of the use. This suggests to me that the marijuana causes epigenetic changes in the ova.
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