Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy
Various aspects of social life may change dramatically. A good example is the attitude towards some substances that are currently prohibited, but used to be widely used. While some of them, for example, heroin are considered to be heavy drugs, others, such as cannabis, are perceived differently by the contemporary society. Nevertheless, the consumption of those substances may have a dramatic impact on the fetus as well as children from their infancy to adolescence.
The evidence suggests that those children whose mothers smoked marijuana during their pregnancy are likely to be born of smaller weight and height than their counterparts. This might be explained by the fact that their growing body is exposed to substances that inhibit natural growth (Volkow, Baler, Compton & Weiss, 2014). As a result, they may not meet the norm of physical development in the future (Minnes, Lang & Singer, 2011). All this leads to the understanding that smoking during pregnancy has long-lasting medical consequences.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy
Another point that needs to be mentioned is that the use of marijuana by mothers might condition the further substance abuse behavior of the children. While children may not be drawn to marijuana at once, it is possible that they might be willing to consume other substances (Muckle et al. 2011). This, in turn, will lead to other negative medical consequences that they will face in their life (Jaques et al. 2014). That is why one might assume that smoking during pregnancy might contribute to similar behavior in the future.
The studies also show that children whose mothers smoked tend to have lower cognitive skills than their peers. It is obvious that at first, it is rather difficult to detect because of various factors, particularly young age (Bailey, McCook, Hodge & McGrady, 2012). However, when proper cognitive ability tests are administered later in the future, the children who have been exposed to marijuana score significantly less (Gordon, Conley & Gordon, 2013). There is no doubt that this will have a negative impact on their future life.
Another cognitive impairment that they might develop is attention deficit disorder. The studies show that there is a clear correlation between the two factors (Brown & Graves, 2013). In spite of the fact that the extent of it may be different, there is no doubt that the ability to retain attention is negatively influenced by the use of marijuana by mothers during pregnancy (Nadebaum, Anderson, Vajda, Reutens, Barton & Wood, 2011). As a result, this is yet another manifestation of the negative impact of this habit.
In many cases, children might develop anxiety because of the early exposure to the substance in question. At this, first it may be difficult to diagnose; however, in the adolescence, this will be quite evident (Svrakic, Lustman, Mallya, Lynn, Finney & Svrakic 2011). The major problem here is that the child may not understand what causes this problem as this is the state that one may have been experiencing for a long time.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy
Finally, the use of marijuana by mothers during pregnancy might contribute to the development of depression in their children. Similarly to the previous examples, the substance that the fetus has been exposed to changes brain chemistry which predisposed a child to depression (Diaz, 2014). As a result, it may be rather difficult to treat it because the body has already been negatively influenced by marijuana and this impact may be irreversible.
As one can easily see, there is a sufficient amount of evidence that suggests that smoking marijuana during pregnancy will have negative medical and cognitive impacts on the fetus. This is extremely important since this calls for responsible consumption of this substance. The attitude towards marijuana is changing, but it is important to keep in mind that it is still capable of having a negative impact on the human body. That is why mothers should consider all the risks associated with this habit.
References
Bailey, B. A., McCook, J. G., Hodge, A., & McGrady, L. (2012). Infant birth outcomes among substance-using women: why quitting smoking during pregnancy is just as important as quitting illicit drug use. Maternal and child health journal, 16(2), 414-422.
Brown, H. L., & Graves, C. R. (2013). Smoking and marijuana use in pregnancy. Clinical obstetrics and Gynecology, 56(1), 107-113.
Diaz, S. D. et al. (2014). Effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on behavioral and cognitive findings at 7.5 years of age. The Journal of Pediatrics, 164(6), 1333-1338.
Gordon, A. J., Conley, J. W., & Gordon, J. M. (2013). Medical consequences of marijuana use: a review of current literature. Current Psychiatry Reports, 15(12), 419-433.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy
Jaques, S. C., et al. (2014). Cannabis, the pregnant woman and her child: weeding out the myths. Journal of Perinatology, 34(6), 417-432.
Minnes, S., Lang, A., & Singer, L. (2011). Prenatal tobacco, marijuana, stimulant, and opiate exposure: outcomes and practice implications. Addiction science & clinical practice, 6(1), 57-69.
Muckle, G., et al. (2011). Alcohol, smoking, and drug use among Inuit women of childbearing age during pregnancy and the risk to children. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35(6), 1081-1091.
Nadebaum, C., Anderson, V., Vajda, F., Reutens, D., Barton, S., & Wood, A. (2011). The Australian brain and cognition and antiepileptic drugs study: IQ in school-aged children exposed to sodium valproate and polytherapy. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17(1), 133-142.
Svrakic, D. M., Lustman, P. J., Mallya, A., Lynn, T. A., Finney, R., & Svrakic, N. M. (2011). Legalization, decriminalization and medicinal use of cannabis. Missouri medicine, 109(2), 90-98.
Volkow, N. D., Baler, R. D., Compton, W. M., & Weiss, S. R. (2014). Adverse health effects of marijuana use. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(23), 2219-2227.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy