Effects in Pregnancy
A study of 600 mothers that reported smoking cannabis during pregnancy suggested that it was not associated with increased risk of perinatal mortality. However, frequent and regular use of cannabis throughout pregnancy may be associated with a small but statistically detectable decrease in birth weight.
Melanie Dreher, dean of nursing at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, conducted a study of Jamaican women who used cannabis throughout their pregnancies, as well as their babies' first year. The study was published in the American Journal of Pediatrics in 1994. Dreher expected to see a decrease in birth weight, but saw none. Instead, the exposed babies socialized and made eye contact more quickly, had better organization and modulation of sleeping and waking, and were less prone to anxiety. On difference between the Jamaican and other studies' results, "Medicine hunter" Chris Kilham noted, "In U.S. studies where we've seen a similar investigation, women have concurrently been abusing alcohol and other drugs as well".
Read more about this topic: Cannabis Intoxication
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