Weeding out danger to your unborn baby (Roizon article)

In 2021, it’s estimated that there were 3,659,289 births — up 1% from 2020, the first increase since 2014. That pandemic year!

Unfortunately, that means more than 300,000 of those babies were exposed to marijuana in utero and will pay a price for their mom’s indulgence. A 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 9.8% of women admit to using marijuana during their pregnancy. And, a new study out of Washington University in St. Louis shows that many of their kids will have mental and emotional disorders as they approach their teen years.

The research, published in Pediatrics, extended earlier findings from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. They showed that young kids exposed in utero to marijuana suffered from lower birth weight, sleep problems and lower cognitive performance. This new study looked at 11- and 12-year-olds in the ABCD study. It reveals that as the kids get older, they began to have psychological issues such as anxiety and depression. And, the researchers add, it’s reasonable to expect that even more psychological disorders will develop in “exposed” kids as they get into their 20s.

Marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient THC is not a benign, feel-good substance. It’s a powerful drug that can alter brain development in the fetus. And, smoke of any kind interferes with a fetus’s ability to “breathe” and damages a child’s lungs and brain. So, if you are pregnant, weed pot out of your garden of delights and give your child a chance to have the best life possible.