This Growing Trend Could Be the Most Dangerous One Yet for the Marijuana Industry
Cannabis has been used a lot of different ways and by a lot of different people. From smoking it to eating it, there's been no shortage of ways that cannabis has been used. The problem is that it can sometimes lead to unexpected results, especially since there isn't always a lot of data for all those uses. One particular trend that might have some serious repercussions is cannabis use during pregnancy.
While the impacts aren't yet clear on what can happen to a fetus exposed to cannabis, that hasn't prevented more pregnant women from using it. According to data that was self-reported by nearly 277,000 pregnant women in Northern California, in 2009, 6.8% of those women used cannabis in the year before pregnancy compared to 12.5% who did so in 2017. And although there was a big drop-off in the number of women who continued to use it during pregnancy, that rate also increased, rising from 1.9% to 3.4%.
One of the reasons pregnant women use cannabis: to treat morning sickness. A previous study had found that when women experienced severe vomiting and nausea during their pregnancies, they were about four times more likely to consume marijuana. One of the authors of the current study, Dr. Nancy Goler, considers this growing trend of marijuana use a big problem, noting that: "Until such time as we fully understand the specific health risks cannabis poses for pregnant women and their fetuses, we are recommending stopping all cannabis use prior to conceiving and certainly once a woman knows she is pregnant."
Source Fool.com
