Smoking cannabis during pregnancy fourfold more likely under medical and adult-use legalization frameworks<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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FRIDAY, Dec. 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Up to 7 percent of pregnant women in the United States report using cannabis, according to a study published online Nov. 28 in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse<\/em>.<\/p>\n Kathak Vachhani, from University of Toronto, and colleagues explored how cannabis use in pregnant women varies by different cannabis legalization frameworks: permitted use of cannabidiol (CBD) only, medical cannabis, and adult-use cannabis. The analysis included responses from 1,992 pregnant women participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2017 to 2020). <\/p>\n The researchers found that recent cannabis use was reported by 2.4 percent of respondents in the CBD-only group, 7.1 percent in the medical cannabis group, and 6.9 percent in the adult-use cannabis group. Respondents in the medical and adult-use cannabis groups were 4.5-fold and 4.7-fold, respectively, more likely to use cannabis than those in the CBD-only group. Smoking was the most common method of intake across all groups, and more than 49 percent of users reported using partially or entirely for adult-use purposes.<\/p>\n “The increased use with legalization motivates further research on the impacts of cannabis as a therapeutic agent during pregnancy and supports the need for increased screening and patient counseling regarding the potential effects of cannabis use on fetal development,” the authors write.<\/p>\n