Federally funded medical research reveals marijuana not tied to autism.

Drinking, smoking and consuming marijuana while pregnant is never recommended. Over the course of history, woman have consumed liquor, especially during the period when clean water was hard to find, but child mortality was high. With advances in medicine, it has been discovered some activities, like drinking and smoking cigarettes, can cause harm to the baby. No one is saying expectant women should have booze, buds, or cigarettes. But early on, when a woman doesn’t know she is expecting, she might have engaged in these habits

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One of the concerns circling around cannabis is how it can affect a baby’s development.  While more research needs to be done, two new studies have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which provides some good news. The first study  focused on discovering if maternal cannabis use during early pregnancy associated with risk of child autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

This  study included 178 948 mother-child combinations. The children were born between 2011 and 2019 to pregnant Kaiser Permanente Northern California members screened for prenatal cannabis use during pregnancy. Statistical analysis was conducted February 2023 to March 2024. The findings suggest maternal cannabis use during early pregnancy was not associated with child ASD, but additional research should be conducted to replicate the findings.

Another study released this week found maternal cannabis use during early pregnancy was not associated with speech and language disorders, global delay, or motor delay. The investigation into marijuana and childhood development and included 119 976 pregnancies among 106 240 unique pregnant individuals.

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A reason for the study is with legal marijuana increased, this is increased discussion around it being a cause of developmental development among babies. But  documented associations between maternal prenatal cannabis use and adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth and low birthweight have not be in a study. There has been little research assessing the association of maternal prenatal cannabis use and childhood developmental outcomes, this study was done to provide a scientific fact around the information.

More research needs to be done, and like alcohol and cigarettes which are harmful for the body, not one is saying it is good to use why expecting, but it is good to have information grounded in facts.