Research Summary

Fetal growth and development may be impaired when pregnant women smoke marijuana, according to new research from the Netherlands.

Reuters reported Jan. 22 that researchers studied 7,000 pregnant women, including some who acknowledged smoking marijuana during pregnancy, and found that babies delivered by marijuana users weighed less at birth and had smaller heads.

The results were similar to those found in studies of cigarette smokers. Most of the marijuana users in the study also smoked cigarettes, but researchers said that marijuana use seemed to affect birth size even more than cigarette smoking alone.

Researchers found that the longer a woman smoked marijuana during pregnancy, the more pronounced the effects were on fetal development.

The study was published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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Is it safe to smoke marijuana during pregnancy?

Expert Answers

Gerald Briggs, pharmacist clinical specialist

No.

Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may affect your baby's growth and the development of his nervous system.

Studies have shown that children who were exposed to marijuana during pregnancy sometimes have problems focusing their attention and solving problems.

Children of heavy pot users may also have problems with short-term memory, concentration, and judgment.

(There's no evidence so far, however, that marijuana use during pregnancy causes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

One study even found that young children whose mothers smoked marijuana during pregnancy had a higher risk of leukemia than those whose mothers did not.

What's more, there's no way to know if the pot you're smoking has been laced with other drugs (such as PCP) or contaminated with pesticides, which would put your baby at even higher risk.

And using marijuana increases the chance that your baby will have birth defects if you're also drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco.

If you smoked pot before you realized you were pregnant, don't panic.

The chance that your baby has been affected is very small.

Still, it's important to be honest with your practitioner about your previous use of pot and other recreational drugs.

She may want to run some extra tests to be sure your baby is developing normally.

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