According to a new study, more women use cannabis while they are pregnant.
The study found that women who used cannabis during pregnancy increased from almost 2 percent to 3.4 percent.
Experts say that early research shows that cannabis use during pregnancy can cause neurological effects.
As the laws and attitudes around cannabis have changed, an increasing number of people, including pregnant women, reportedly consume cannabis on an occasional or regular basis.

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of medical cannabis. In addition, 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of cannabis (marijuana).

According to a new study published by researchers in California, more women use cannabis while they are pregnant.

The increase in cannabis use among pregnant women has worried certain health experts who say the drug could affect the development of the fetus.

The authors of this study evaluated cannabis use in pregnant women in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health care system.

What the study found
In this health care system, pregnant women are asked to complete a drug use questionnaire during their first prenatal care visit.

The researchers found that from 2009 to 2017, the rate of cannabis use during pregnancy was reported to increase from 1.95 percent to 3.38 percent.

During the same period, the rate of cannabis use during the year prior to pregnancy increased from 6.80 percent to 12.50 percent.

Among pregnant women who were surveyed in 2017, 0.69 percent of them reported having used cannabis daily during pregnancy. In comparison, 0.92 percent reported having used cannabis weekly during pregnancy and 1.77 percent reported having consumed it monthly or less.

The most frequent cannabis use was associated with a younger age, African-American ethnicity and the income of households in medium-sized neighborhoods.

Other research has found that some women use cannabis as an alternative to other treatments to control pregnancy-related symptoms, such as morning sickness or other health conditions.

"We use [cannabis] in chemotherapy patients when they have nausea, so patients think it is a good solution for morning sickness," Dr. Jennifer Leighdon Wu, a gynecologist-obstetrician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told Healthline .

"But when you think about morning sickness, it usually happens in the first trimester, when the brain and other organs develop, so that is the moment when you really don't want to use [cannabis]," he said.

Instead, Wu suggests controlling morning sickness with other medications for which more safety data is available during pregnancy.


Cannabis use may pose risks during pregnancy
More and more studies suggest that cannabis use during pregnancy may pose a risk to the health of pregnant women and developing fetuses.

A review article published in 2016 found that women who used cannabis at least once a week while they were pregnant were more likely to have preterm birth and more likely to have low birth weight babies.

However, the authors of that review article noted that women who use cannabis more often also tend to use more tobacco and other drugs, which could help explain their findings.

Some research has also linked cannabis use in pregnancy with long-term neurological effects in children.

For example, children of mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy may be at greater risk of poor academic performance and behavioral problems.

More research is needed to study the short and long-term effects of cannabis use in pregnancy, including the occasional and frequent use of cannabis, experts say.

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Experts recommend not using cannabis during pregnancy.
Given the possible safety risks and unanswered questions about cannabis use during pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) encourages women to avoid cannabis use during pregnancy.