Medical marijuana advocates took a major blow after a study claimed that smoking pot posts a dangerous threat to health particularly to unborn fetuses during pregnancy. However, our green cannabis gets back its reputation after a review of the said research revealed that smoking marijuana is not causing these health risks, but tobacco.
In a published research review in the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, it is suggested that marijuana is not a contributing variable in the development of the fetal health risks and birth defects to unborn babies, but instead, it is masking the effects of the true culprit which is tobacco.
Doctors and researchers from Washington University conducted a thorough review of a 31 preselected studies and cross analyzed its data. Their findings concluded that tobacco is to be accounted to most of effects and health risk factors related to gestation and pregnancy in general.
"We found that maternal marijuana use during pregnancy is not an independent risk factor for low birth weight or preterm delivery after adjusting for factors such as tobacc," as quoted by Reason. The research further asserted that there are is no correlation between the adverse effects in pregnancy and marijuana use.
However, the researchers are still not entirely eliminating the influence of marijuana exposure to the long-term neuro-developmental outcomes in pregnancy and gestation. The researchers also do not recommend the use of marijuana at any stage of pregnancy as its overall effects to the unborn is still not verified.Marijuana, just like alcohol and tobacco, could still induce several health risks to the pregnant mother and may manifest later in the infant's development.
On other news, some states in the US already permitted the distribution and usage of government regulated recreational marijuana. Even more states approved the use of it in medical purposes.
