The most commonly used illegal drug by pregnant women and women of reproductive age is cannabis. After extensive ratification across the U.S., recreational and medical cannabis use is getting widely acceptable. We need to thank the biomedical scientists for their untiring efforts as the medicinal welfares of cannabis are being proved to be a practical doubt. Also, marijuana use during pregnancy has been a hot subject for scientific debate.
The latest study has cautioned pregnant women to avoid using cannabis in order to evade complications, specifically for their unborn baby as there are probabilities of increasing the risk of anaemia in pregnant women and low birth weight of the unborn child. In this article, let us learn the effects of cannabis during pregnancy.
Firstly, let us understand whether cannabis use can affect fertility. Using cannabis heavily has been related to decreased fertility in both women and men. In men, cannabis is believed to decrease the quality of sperm and testosterone levels and also inability of the sperm to travel quickly, thus leading to sperm abnormalities. Similarly, with respect to females, there is a proof that using cannabis can disturb the menstrual cycles. Therefore, these aspects will make it problematic for a woman to conceive.
Will Cannabis Use Disturb Pregnancy?
The foremost psychoactive ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in cannabis is said to travel through placenta from the mother to the emerging foetus. This means that the foetus is affected by some quantity of cannabis, which is used by the mother, ending up in more complications. However, the effects of passive inhalation of cannabis should also be avoided. Hence, any method of smoking can disturb the nutrients and oxygen supply to the foetus, resulting in limitation of the growth of the unborn, which includes head size, foot length, overall length and body weight. It may also result in miscarriage or premature birth.
Thus, there is also proof that women who consumed cannabis during pregnancy have given birth to lower weight babies. Also, the delayed beginning of breathing and similar features found in foetal alcohol disease, exaggerated frighten response, poor eye-sight, tremors, hole in the heart and inability to adjust to new features of the environment. Hence, pregnant women should avoid using cannabis to avoid complications in the developing foetus and be a responsible mother!
