July 22, 2024 • 12 mins
We've uncovered a troubling trend: marijuana use is on the rise among pregnant mothers, posing severe health risks to both them and their babies. With evidence from a recent study by Kaiser, we discuss the alarming increase in gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, lower birth weights, preterm birth, and higher neonatal intensive care admissions linked to marijuana use during pregnancy. Even more concerning, many dispensaries are recommending marijuana to pregnant women—a dangerous echo of past marketing tactics by the alcohol industry. We urgently call for stringent regulations and public health warnings to protect vulnerable mothers and their unborn children from these significant risks.
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https://gooddrugpolicy.org/
https://thedrugreport.org/
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https://twitter.com/KevinSabet
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On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutsam
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes or no?
Do you believe nicotine is notaddictive?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
Yes, Congressman, cigarettesand nicotine clearly do not meet
the classic definitions ofaddiction.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I don't believe that nicotine for our products are
addictive.
I believe nicotine is notaddictive.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
I believe that nicotine is notaddictive.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi everyone.
This is Luke Nifiratos.
I'm your co-host of the TDRpodcast.
I want to thank our twosponsoring organizations.
That's SAM, smart Approaches toMarijuana, as well as FDPS, the
Foundation for Drug PolicySolutions, cover marijuana
policy and drug policy andbeyond.
So thank you, as always, forjoining us here on the podcast.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk alittle bit about pregnancy and
marijuana, because this is arising issue that we've been
tracking for a number of years.
This really the trend ofincreasing marijuana use really
was highlighted when thenSurgeon General Dr Jerome Adams,
in 2019, issued the first everadvisory from the Surgeon
(01:03):
General's office on excuse me,not first ever first time in 40
years from the Surgeon General'soffice on excuse me not.
First ever first time in 40years, the Surgeon General's
office had issued an advisory onmarijuana and his chief concern
was youth use of marijuanareaching unprecedented levels
across the country, butparticularly pregnant mothers,
their usage was rising.
(01:23):
This was back in 2019.
I encourage you to check it out.
But basically, the SurgeonGeneral talked about how today's
marijuana is nothing like themarijuana of years before.
For those of you who don't knowI think many of our listeners
do know that marijuana back acouple of decades ago was 2% to
3% potency of THC.
Now we're talking about up to99% potent products.
It's a totally different drug,more addictive, more harmful to
(01:46):
your health, and so it'sparticularly concerning to our
nation's doctors and publichealth associations and experts
when they see that pregnantmothers are using this more than
ever.
Well, there's a new study out.
Cnn just did a very bigwrite-up on this issue because
this study was just releasedtoday from Kaiser, their
(02:07):
division of research inPleasanton, california.
They released a study thatfound an increase in your risk
of gestational hypertension andpreeclampsia if you are a
pregnant mother and usingmarijuana, and they talk about
how this rate of pregnantmothers using marijuana has
(02:27):
actually more than doubled overthe last two decades.
And you know so this is justkind of only the latest in a
slew of harms that we'rebeginning to understand come
along with use during pregnancy.
They talk about how there areincreased risks for the child of
lower birth weights, pretermbirth and also, if you're using
while pregnant, a much greaterchance of higher admission rates
(02:51):
to neonatal intensive careunits.
So it's really not, you know,it's not just kind of a minor
issue.
When you're talking about useduring pregnancy, this is
something that comes with veryserious risks to the mother as
well as the child, and so thisis something that you know.
You put this in the greatercontext of what the marijuana
industry has been doing.
(03:11):
Just a few years ago, denverHealth here in Colorado, where
I'm from they're one of the tophealthcare institutions here in
the state, nonprofit they did astudy where they posed as
mothers in their first trimesterand they called every single
pot shop in the city of Denver,which was more than 600 at the
time, and what they found wasmore than 80% of the medical
(03:35):
quote.
Unquote.
Medical marijuana dispensarieswere recommending marijuana to
those researchers posing aspregnant mothers, and around 70%
of all of the dispensaries therecreational included were
recommending marijuana to thosefolks who they thought were
pregnant mothers to help themwith nausea during their first
trimester.
(03:55):
So absolutely astonishing thatthe industry is normalizing this
drug for obviously a wholelaundry list of things that they
claim it cures.
But the fact that they'retargeting pregnant mothers and
saying that this can help, whennow research study after
research study and today's studyis no different is telling us
(04:17):
all of the many very seriousconcerns that we should have
about using during pregnancy.
This shouldn't even be a debate.
It shouldn't even be a debate,it shouldn't even be a
discussion.
And yet we have literalcannabis companies called
Canamama where they'renormalizing pregnant mothers and
mothers who use marijuana.
You see other attempts from theindustry to normalize mothers
(04:41):
or soon-to-be mothers as usingmarijuana.
And it's really no differentthan the history we saw with
alcohol, where the alcoholindustry, and even to this day,
is trying to normalize this ideaof wine, moms, et cetera, but
has always pitched alcohol tomothers, wine moms, et cetera
but has always pitched alcoholto mothers.
And really it seems like yousee this happen with a lot of
just addictive substances ormind-altering substances, just
(05:03):
in general, mommy's a littlehelper from even over a century
ago.
So this study, definitely checkit out.
It'll be in our TDR newsletterwhich you can subscribe to at
the drug reportorg.
You will get that here tomorrow.
But this is just a reallyfrightening study.
You know, one other findingthey said was you know, if
(05:24):
you're using marijuana in earlypregnancy, 19% greater risk of
placental abruption.
So you know that literallymeans that.
You know that's the organ, theplacenta.
You know that literally meansthat, uh, you know that's the
organ that the um, the placenta.
You know the organ providesoxygen nutrients to the fetus.
It's called a placenta.
In an abruption, it suddenlydetaches from the side of the
uterus, so it endangers thehealth of the mother and the
(05:46):
developing baby.
So, uh, very, very concerningthat you know, almost a 20%
increase in that risk.
Um, so this is something weneed to be talking to our public
health officials about.
It's about time that, in stateswhere they've allowed this
complete farce called quoteunquote medical marijuana, the
(06:07):
least they can do is put verystringent regulations in place
that restrict the industry, thatmake them put warnings on their
products for pregnant mothers,that they can really seriously
penalize these bad actors thatare pushing this narrative and
they can educate the publicabout the fact that marijuana
does not help with pregnancy.
So, anyway, and another greatresource, by the way, is the
(06:28):
Academy of Pediatrics, which hasissued several advisories on
this issue of pregnant mothersand the use of marijuana, and of
course, they're warning againstit.
So be sure to check out thatinformation.
Watch for the link here as itcomes out in the newsletter.
I want to wrap up by giving youthe audio version of our
highlight reel from our PROSPERSummit.
(06:50):
Prosper, for those of you whodon't know, is the new Canadian
counterpart for the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions we
founded that in Canada't know isthe new Canadian kind of
counterpart for the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions.
We founded that in Canada.
Kevin, in the time that hespends in Canada, is helping to
grow it and working with a lotof other leaders on the ground
there.
This is really aCanadian-driven effort at this
point because there's a dearthof leadership in Canada for
(07:11):
sensible drug policy, butthere's a lot of demand for it,
so people are starting to riseto the call and so Prosper is
just very much prospering.
So check out this audio clip.
I'm going to play it.
It's about four and a halfminutes and it'll give you just
a taste of some of theincredible presentations that
were given, talks that weregiven, questions that were asked
(07:32):
.
It just was a fantastic eventattended by hundreds of
Canadians and all of the majorparty leadership and people
working on these issues inCanada.
Definitely listen to it.
It was a great event and we'llbe doing it again next year.
So with that, thank you all andhope you have a wonderful start
to your week.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
My name is Will Jones and I'm very happy to be with
you here today.
Moi, c'est William.
Je suis très content d'être iciavec vous.
Ce matin, I gave out moreNarcan, probably, than most
people ever will in their life.
So for me to be here, it's notabout politics, it's not about a
(08:24):
policy position, just to talk.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
We're really here for one reason, and that reason is
to help decision makers and thepublic navigate this complicated
issue with common sense,evidence, empathy, care, toward
the goal of prevention.
And when we lean on these lazydichotomies intense police
involvement or none at all youknow a lot of treatment, none at
all we get bad outcomes, and soso I think the good news is
(08:51):
there's a lot of good news.
Part of the good news is thereare things that work and we're
going to be highlighting that.
He said to me.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Brad, what stopped me from getting help wasn't stigma
from drugs being illegal.
It was a 16 week wait for thetype of treatment that I needed.
That's what stopped me.
I hope you'll join me infeeling a sense of warmth that
we are at last in a roomtogether, talking about making a
(09:19):
better place, free of judgmentand blame.
Looking out our windshield notnecessarily in the rearview
mirror we have immense, immensestrengths and I hope we can
continue this discussion and putsome of them into better.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Bc Housing has put consumption rooms in all their
buildings.
So where you have consumptionrooms, you're going to have
dealers, because when you'reconsuming something, you need to
get it.
We need dry housing.
Speaker 8 (09:46):
And unfortunately, many of my patients fall into
this revolving door.
Where they come into hospital,they receive excellent treatment
and we put them right back intothat circumstances In some ways
.
For me it's analogous totreating somebody with a
gambling addiction in a facilityand then discharging them right
into a casino and saying goodluck, we need to provide local
(10:07):
treatment options to use so theycan be close to their families
and receive programming which isculturally safe.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
There is unanimous support from the community and
youth for the creation of anIndigenous Youth Wellness Centre
which will offer detox andresidential treatment on
Vancouver Island that, as we arecreating programs for
communities, we need to bereally careful we're listening
to what the communities want.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I'm going to pound my drum here.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
This drum is an extension of my heart.
It's an extension of mostIndigenous communities.
That's why we use the drum.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I don't think that saving lives is just CPR.
I don't think that saving alife is just Narcan or just
housing.
Saving a life is gettingsomebody in a condition to where
they'll never need your helpagain.
Saving a life is living a lifehelping someone get into a place
where they can live a life freeof addiction and the suffering
(11:09):
that comes with it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
No epidemic in the history of the world has ended
by waiting for people to getsick and then trying to take
care of them.
That's not how COVID ended.
That's not how HIV was broughtunder control.
It's through prevention,stopping people from getting in
trouble in the first place.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Even the information that we do get out of the health
authorities are so watered downand broad brush that it's not
useful.
So we've had to try toreconstruct things ourselves.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
It's serious what I talked about.
You can't manage, what youcan't measure.
I really believe that.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
But most of them they are nurses teachers and they
are hardworking taxpayersleading the next generation of
Canadians.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Their voices don't be heard.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
This is the beginning , though, and we do want to have
discussions and dialogues.
We want to bring peopletogether.
We want to bring people thatmay not agree together and find
common ground.
We want to come up with realsolutions, actually, and promote
those solutions.
So you will hear from us.
This is the very beginning, and, again, thank you all for
coming today.
(12:19):
Thank you.
Yes or no?
Do you believe nicotine is notaddictive?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
Yes, Congressman, cigarettesand nicotine clearly do not meet
the classic definitions ofaddiction.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I don't believe that nicotine for our products are
addictive.
I believe nicotine is notaddictive.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
I believe that nicotine is notaddictive.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi everyone.
This is Luke Nifiratos.
I'm your co-host of the TDRpodcast.
I want to thank our twosponsoring organizations.
That's SAM, smart Approaches toMarijuana, as well as FDPS, the
Foundation for Drug PolicySolutions, cover marijuana
policy and drug policy andbeyond.
So thank you, as always, forjoining us here on the podcast.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk alittle bit about pregnancy and
marijuana, because this is arising issue that we've been
tracking for a number of years.
This really the trend ofincreasing marijuana use really
was highlighted when thenSurgeon General Dr Jerome Adams,
in 2019, issued the first everadvisory from the Surgeon
(01:03):
General's office on excuse me,not first ever first time in 40
years from the Surgeon General'soffice on excuse me not.
First ever first time in 40years, the Surgeon General's
office had issued an advisory onmarijuana and his chief concern
was youth use of marijuanareaching unprecedented levels
across the country, butparticularly pregnant mothers,
their usage was rising.
(01:23):
This was back in 2019.
I encourage you to check it out.
But basically, the SurgeonGeneral talked about how today's
marijuana is nothing like themarijuana of years before.
For those of you who don't knowI think many of our listeners
do know that marijuana back acouple of decades ago was 2% to
3% potency of THC.
Now we're talking about up to99% potent products.
It's a totally different drug,more addictive, more harmful to
(01:46):
your health, and so it'sparticularly concerning to our
nation's doctors and publichealth associations and experts
when they see that pregnantmothers are using this more than
ever.
Well, there's a new study out.
Cnn just did a very bigwrite-up on this issue because
this study was just releasedtoday from Kaiser, their
(02:07):
division of research inPleasanton, california.
They released a study thatfound an increase in your risk
of gestational hypertension andpreeclampsia if you are a
pregnant mother and usingmarijuana, and they talk about
how this rate of pregnantmothers using marijuana has
(02:27):
actually more than doubled overthe last two decades.
And you know so this is justkind of only the latest in a
slew of harms that we'rebeginning to understand come
along with use during pregnancy.
They talk about how there areincreased risks for the child of
lower birth weights, pretermbirth and also, if you're using
while pregnant, a much greaterchance of higher admission rates
(02:51):
to neonatal intensive careunits.
So it's really not, you know,it's not just kind of a minor
issue.
When you're talking about useduring pregnancy, this is
something that comes with veryserious risks to the mother as
well as the child, and so thisis something that you know.
You put this in the greatercontext of what the marijuana
industry has been doing.
(03:11):
Just a few years ago, denverHealth here in Colorado, where
I'm from they're one of the tophealthcare institutions here in
the state, nonprofit they did astudy where they posed as
mothers in their first trimesterand they called every single
pot shop in the city of Denver,which was more than 600 at the
time, and what they found wasmore than 80% of the medical
(03:35):
quote.
Unquote.
Medical marijuana dispensarieswere recommending marijuana to
those researchers posing aspregnant mothers, and around 70%
of all of the dispensaries therecreational included were
recommending marijuana to thosefolks who they thought were
pregnant mothers to help themwith nausea during their first
trimester.
(03:55):
So absolutely astonishing thatthe industry is normalizing this
drug for obviously a wholelaundry list of things that they
claim it cures.
But the fact that they'retargeting pregnant mothers and
saying that this can help, whennow research study after
research study and today's studyis no different is telling us
(04:17):
all of the many very seriousconcerns that we should have
about using during pregnancy.
This shouldn't even be a debate.
It shouldn't even be a debate,it shouldn't even be a
discussion.
And yet we have literalcannabis companies called
Canamama where they'renormalizing pregnant mothers and
mothers who use marijuana.
You see other attempts from theindustry to normalize mothers
(04:41):
or soon-to-be mothers as usingmarijuana.
And it's really no differentthan the history we saw with
alcohol, where the alcoholindustry, and even to this day,
is trying to normalize this ideaof wine, moms, et cetera, but
has always pitched alcohol tomothers, wine moms, et cetera
but has always pitched alcoholto mothers.
And really it seems like yousee this happen with a lot of
just addictive substances ormind-altering substances, just
(05:03):
in general, mommy's a littlehelper from even over a century
ago.
So this study, definitely checkit out.
It'll be in our TDR newsletterwhich you can subscribe to at
the drug reportorg.
You will get that here tomorrow.
But this is just a reallyfrightening study.
You know, one other findingthey said was you know, if
(05:24):
you're using marijuana in earlypregnancy, 19% greater risk of
placental abruption.
So you know that literallymeans that.
You know that's the organ, theplacenta.
You know that literally meansthat, uh, you know that's the
organ that the um, the placenta.
You know the organ providesoxygen nutrients to the fetus.
It's called a placenta.
In an abruption, it suddenlydetaches from the side of the
uterus, so it endangers thehealth of the mother and the
(05:46):
developing baby.
So, uh, very, very concerningthat you know, almost a 20%
increase in that risk.
Um, so this is something weneed to be talking to our public
health officials about.
It's about time that, in stateswhere they've allowed this
complete farce called quoteunquote medical marijuana, the
(06:07):
least they can do is put verystringent regulations in place
that restrict the industry, thatmake them put warnings on their
products for pregnant mothers,that they can really seriously
penalize these bad actors thatare pushing this narrative and
they can educate the publicabout the fact that marijuana
does not help with pregnancy.
So, anyway, and another greatresource, by the way, is the
(06:28):
Academy of Pediatrics, which hasissued several advisories on
this issue of pregnant mothersand the use of marijuana, and of
course, they're warning againstit.
So be sure to check out thatinformation.
Watch for the link here as itcomes out in the newsletter.
I want to wrap up by giving youthe audio version of our
highlight reel from our PROSPERSummit.
(06:50):
Prosper, for those of you whodon't know, is the new Canadian
counterpart for the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions we
founded that in Canada't know isthe new Canadian kind of
counterpart for the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions.
We founded that in Canada.
Kevin, in the time that hespends in Canada, is helping to
grow it and working with a lotof other leaders on the ground
there.
This is really aCanadian-driven effort at this
point because there's a dearthof leadership in Canada for
(07:11):
sensible drug policy, butthere's a lot of demand for it,
so people are starting to riseto the call and so Prosper is
just very much prospering.
So check out this audio clip.
I'm going to play it.
It's about four and a halfminutes and it'll give you just
a taste of some of theincredible presentations that
were given, talks that weregiven, questions that were asked
(07:32):
.
It just was a fantastic eventattended by hundreds of
Canadians and all of the majorparty leadership and people
working on these issues inCanada.
Definitely listen to it.
It was a great event and we'llbe doing it again next year.
So with that, thank you all andhope you have a wonderful start
to your week.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
My name is Will Jones and I'm very happy to be with
you here today.
Moi, c'est William.
Je suis très content d'être iciavec vous.
Ce matin, I gave out moreNarcan, probably, than most
people ever will in their life.
So for me to be here, it's notabout politics, it's not about a
(08:24):
policy position, just to talk.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
We're really here for one reason, and that reason is
to help decision makers and thepublic navigate this complicated
issue with common sense,evidence, empathy, care, toward
the goal of prevention.
And when we lean on these lazydichotomies intense police
involvement or none at all youknow a lot of treatment, none at
all we get bad outcomes, and soso I think the good news is
(08:51):
there's a lot of good news.
Part of the good news is thereare things that work and we're
going to be highlighting that.
He said to me.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Brad, what stopped me from getting help wasn't stigma
from drugs being illegal.
It was a 16 week wait for thetype of treatment that I needed.
That's what stopped me.
I hope you'll join me infeeling a sense of warmth that
we are at last in a roomtogether, talking about making a
(09:19):
better place, free of judgmentand blame.
Looking out our windshield notnecessarily in the rearview
mirror we have immense, immensestrengths and I hope we can
continue this discussion and putsome of them into better.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Bc Housing has put consumption rooms in all their
buildings.
So where you have consumptionrooms, you're going to have
dealers, because when you'reconsuming something, you need to
get it.
We need dry housing.
Speaker 8 (09:46):
And unfortunately, many of my patients fall into
this revolving door.
Where they come into hospital,they receive excellent treatment
and we put them right back intothat circumstances In some ways
.
For me it's analogous totreating somebody with a
gambling addiction in a facilityand then discharging them right
into a casino and saying goodluck, we need to provide local
(10:07):
treatment options to use so theycan be close to their families
and receive programming which isculturally safe.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
There is unanimous support from the community and
youth for the creation of anIndigenous Youth Wellness Centre
which will offer detox andresidential treatment on
Vancouver Island that, as we arecreating programs for
communities, we need to bereally careful we're listening
to what the communities want.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I'm going to pound my drum here.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
This drum is an extension of my heart.
It's an extension of mostIndigenous communities.
That's why we use the drum.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I don't think that saving lives is just CPR.
I don't think that saving alife is just Narcan or just
housing.
Saving a life is gettingsomebody in a condition to where
they'll never need your helpagain.
Saving a life is living a lifehelping someone get into a place
where they can live a life freeof addiction and the suffering
(11:09):
that comes with it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
No epidemic in the history of the world has ended
by waiting for people to getsick and then trying to take
care of them.
That's not how COVID ended.
That's not how HIV was broughtunder control.
It's through prevention,stopping people from getting in
trouble in the first place.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Even the information that we do get out of the health
authorities are so watered downand broad brush that it's not
useful.
So we've had to try toreconstruct things ourselves.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
It's serious what I talked about.
You can't manage, what youcan't measure.
I really believe that.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
But most of them they are nurses teachers and they
are hardworking taxpayersleading the next generation of
Canadians.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Their voices don't be heard.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
This is the beginning , though, and we do want to have
discussions and dialogues.
We want to bring peopletogether.
We want to bring people thatmay not agree together and find
common ground.
We want to come up with realsolutions, actually, and promote
those solutions.
So you will hear from us.
This is the very beginning, and, again, thank you all for
coming today.
(12:19):
Thank you.
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