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Doctors concerned about rise in marijuana use by pregnant women

A new study says marijuana use is on the rise for pregnant women and could have consequences for their unborn children.

NEW ORLEANS -- The number of pregnant women using marijuana is on the rise according to the American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Report. And its use is especially high among urban, young pregnant women.

Experts who study the drug say this is a dangerous health trend for the next generation and explain why pregnant women, breast feeding women and teens are most at risk.

While the baby' brain is forming from conception until delivery, marijuana does cross the placenta from the mother into the unborn baby, affecting how and when brain cells connect and talk to each other.

"So, why would you encourage someone who was pregnant with a baby developing inside them to, to consume something that would interfere with the development of that (brain) system. It would seem to me to be as much of a mistake as it would be to consume alcohol, which delays a whole lot of other things," explained Dr. Peter Winsauer, a Pharmacologist at LSU Health Sciences Center.

The study found when those babies reach four-to-nine-years-old, they have lower scores in verbal reasoning, memory tasks. Deficits in language comprehension, visual function, reading tasks that require more attention, and dysfunction on impulsive and hyperactive scales.

Dr. Winsauer says there are similar concerns when teens smoke pot. Brains are not finished developing until the mid-20s and the part affected by marijuana is one of the last to finish developing. Marijuana could permanently change that process.

"There's IQ deficits. There's amotivational syndrome. There is difficulty with reasoning in some cases. There is the potential for psychotic symptoms, actually, and so there is a number of systems, as you might imagine, hallucinations things like that," Dr. Winsauer said.

And since there is no regulation like other drugs, Dr. Winsauer reminds us that each dose of pot is different from the next, in strength and chemical mixture.

Some pregnant women use marijuana to treat morning sickness, but doctors say there are other, tested and safe drugs, to help pregnant women with morning sickness, that won't harm the baby. The same health concerns apply to women who are breastfeeding and their babies.

To read the full study, click here.

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