VAPING CRISIS Info Sheet

JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(7):762-764. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0076

Mirroring increases in the general population, the prevalence of past-month marijuana use among pregnant mothers in the United States increased by 75% between 2002 (2.85%) and 2016 (4.98%).¹ Although cannabis use has been linked to psychosis, little is known about prenatal exposure.^2,3 Unprecedented increases in marijuana use during pregnancy, alongside evidence that cannabis use is correlated with psychosis and that endocannabinoids play an important role in neurodevelopment, highlight the importance of evaluating potential long-term consequences of prenatal exposure.⁴

Thus, prenatal cannabis exposure may be associated with later psychosis proneness in offspring. Only when there is sufficient fetal endocannabinoid type 1 receptor expression, which may not occur until after many mothers learn they are pregnant. In the context of increasing cannabis accessibility and potency, perceptions of safety, and the potential use of cannabis to combat pregnancy-related nausea, these data suggest that cannabis use by pregnant women should be discouraged until more is known.

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• Studies on marijuana's effects on sex and reproduction have yielded mixed results
• Some have suggested heavy pot users have poorer quality sperm
• A new Danish study is the first to find the central nervous system's cannabis receptors are in the testicles, too 
• This system plays a role in how sperm is produced and matures 
• Researchers say marijuana may effect these receptors and therefore sperm  

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Those were the words of Minister of Health Ginette Taylor in November 2017, spoken as the government of Canada began to put together Bill 45, known as The Cannabis Act. Over a year has passed since the enactment of Bill 45 and questions still remain regarding the safety of legal cannabis to our pregnant population, both in the short- and long-term. Even preceding the legalization of cannabis in Canada, a 2017 survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) indicated that from 1996–2017, adults of reproductive age (i.e., 18–29 years) in Ontario reported the biggest increase in cannabis use, from 18.3% to 39.1%.3 Moreover, in 2017, the proportion of Ontarians reporting cannabis use in a span of just 1 year rose from 15.7% to 19.4%, representing a total of 2 million people.  These trends in usage are of great concern, especially when considering that over the last decade, cannabis use has progressively increased in pregnant women, along with the perception that it poses no risk in perinatal life. Aside from the brain, activation of cannabinoid receptors by Δ9-THC or CBD in peripheral tissues (e.g., pancreas, heart, adipose, and liver) during pregnancy could also directly influence the development of those organs, and consequentially, their function in postnatal life. In addition, Δ9-THC in pregnancy may have indirect effects on long-term non-communicable diseases given that it impedes fetal growth, which is a strong predictor of metabolic disease risk in human offspring.

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