Marijuana is Safer than Foster Care
As marijuana re-legalization unfolds across North America, some public health experts are concerned about pregnant and nursing mothers consuming cannabis.
The US Government, through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, warns that moms who smoke pot may lead to kids with “hyperactivity disorders… premature birth… abnormal patterns of social interactions… learning deficits… increased trembling… gaps in problem-solving skills [and] memory… decreased motor development… [and] an increased likelihood of a person using marijuana as a young adult.”
On the other hand, the same NIDA warnings come with the caveats of “no human research… Evidence is mixed… Very little is known…” and an admission that “More research is needed, however, to disentangle marijuana-specific effects from those of other environmental factors that could be associated with a mother’s marijuana use, such as an impoverished home environment or the mother’s use of other drugs.”
What’s the truth? What, if any, are the risks of pregnant and nursing mothers using cannabis?
Trying to apply the scientific method to answer this question is difficult. Ethically, we can’t assign one group of pregnant/nursing moms to a regimen of pot smoking, another group to a placebo, and do the kind of double-blind testing we need to find a definitive answer. We must rely on animal studies (which may not translate to humans), self-reporting by moms (who might lie about their illegal activities), and moms busted for pot use by their medical tests (which oversamples the poor and minorities).
But we do know quite well the risks of pregnant and nursing mothers getting caught using cannabis.
I know personally the medical marijuana mothers who’ve been popped for parenting under prohibition, women like Lindsey Rinehart, Serra Frank, Erica Marie Tucker, and so many more. Their ordeals have led to lengthy court battles, risking their own health by forgoing their medicine, and sometimes exile from their home states, all to recover their children after the government has shuffled them off to a foster home to protect them from their pot-smoking moms.
Sometimes, as in the case of the murdered two-year-old Alexandra Hill, those moms never get their child back from foster care.
I’ve always believed that if maternal marijuana use had any serious effect on the development of the child, we’d have seen the results within heavy pot-smoking populations by now. That’s what researcher Dr. Melanie Dreher thought in the 1970s when she studied rural Jamaican mothers who smoked ganja. In a five-year follow-up, she found that “no significant differences” between the children exposed to marijuana and those who weren’t, except that the ganja babies at 30 days had better scores on “autonomic stability and reflexes.”
I’ve not seen anyone cite data to show Jamaican kids, Rastafarian kids, hippie kids, or even Tommy Chong’s, Willie Nelson’s, and Bob Marley’s two dozen kids are functioning any worse than non-tokers’ kids. But there are other studies critics will cite to oppose Dreher’s work, which was never fully completed, because her funding was pulled after she published her first results.
We do have data, however, to show that kids have far worse outcomes when they’re shuffled needlessly through the foster care system. We know they end up using more mental health services, are more likely to be arrested and have greater likelihood of future incarceration, and are more likely to be unemployed and have more unintended pregnancies.
In 2007, a pioneering study found that kids had better outcomes in life staying with their troubled families than being separated from them by foster care – and that’s including all but the most extreme cases of abuse and neglect.
Furthermore, the unintended consequences of ripping apart families over maternal marijuana use are also more harmful than the marijuana use might be. Women will avoid pre-natal care, switch from marijuana to more harmful substances less-easily detected, or even shun giving birth in a hospital altogether for fear of arrest.
Consider also that for many moms, marijuana is their safest medical option. The drugs pharmacists dole out to control Lindsey’s multiple sclerosis, Serra’s chronic pain, Erica Marie’s seizures, and so many mothers’ morning sickness are contra-indicated for use during pregnancy and lactation.
The scientific jury may still be out on the exact effects of maternal cannabis use on infants. As with all controversies, some common sense, moderation, and consideration of context are in order. Nobody is suggesting that pregnant and nursing mothers should engage in marathon bong rip sessions before every meal.
But if her other options are to take more harmful medicines or endure debilitating conditions without them, avoid and lie to her doctor or risk arrest and loss of her child, or switch to alcohol or other drugs that won’t be detected, the matter is settled. Marijuana is safer than other drugs and certainly safer than foster care.
