Moms, kids and drugs

Smokin Moose

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex Moderator
by Susan Boyd (01 Sept, 1998)

Punishing "druggie moms" and seizing their children is big business in North America. Yet the evidence shows that poverty is more harmful than any drug.

Since the mid 1980s, the medical profession has demonized mothers who use illicit drugs, calling them unfit parents who are harming their unborn children. Often we are informed that their children will be severely damaged, creating a new underclass who will be a drain on social services, the medical community and even the criminal justice system.

Yet the scientific evidence shows that the use of marijuana during pregnancy is essentially harmless and in some cases even beneficial, and that the use of h***in or c****e is not an impediment to having a healthy child, if the mother can afford proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.

Most of the harm claimed to be caused by illegal drug use is actually caused by the extreme poverty of the women being studied.

Punishing bad moms

In the United States, legal sanctions against maternal drug use have been passed by 30 states since the mid 1980s. From 1985 to 1995 there were an estimated 200 women arrested on criminal charges for their behaviour during pregnancy – 140 of them were women of colour.

In every case, prosecutors used legal statutes intended for other purposes and extended them to encompass pregnant women. Thus pregnant drug-users have been arrested for child abuse and neglect, child endangerment, drug possession, assault with a deadly weapon, manslaughter, homicide and even trafficking to the fetus.

In Canada, maternal drug use is not criminalized; however, many poor women who use illegal drugs come into contact with medical and social service professionals. Medical regulation, social service intervention and child apprehension serve to punish poor women in Canada who use illicit drugs.

Looking past the political rhetoric, what is the real story? Are specific drugs harmful to the developing fetus?

Marijuana

Some researchers claim that a fetus exposed to marijuana experiences withdrawal symptoms after birth. Exposure to marijuana is also said to cause low birth weight, prematurity, irritability, tremors and lower scores on infant developmental and assessment tests.

However, the largest studies on maternal cannabis use contradict these results. One of these was conducted in Canada in the 1980s. Over four years, 700 middle-class women who smoked marijuana during pregnancy were compared to non-using mothers. It was discovered that their pregnancies were similar in relation to miscarriage, obstetric complications and birth weight. There was some evidence of a shorter gestation period (one week) among the heaviest pot smokers.

A 1994 study in Jamaica actually demonstrated that Rastafarian women ("Roots Daughters") who used marijuana heavily during pregnancy had healthier babies than women who were light users or non-users of marijuana during pregnancy.

Jamaican Rastafarians use marijuana for medicinal, ritual and recreational purposes. Marijuana is viewed as a sacred substance and is smoked daily and consumed as a tea to enhance health. Although most women in Jamaica refrain from smoking marijuana, the Roots Daughters smoked marijuana on a daily basis during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The Roots Daughters reported that marijuana use increased their appetites, relieved their fatigue, and decreased nausea during pregnancy.

Yet it wasn't necessarily that the marijuana use itself produced superior children, but rather that the marijuana users tended to have a better home environment. The Roots Daughters who were defined as heavy users of marijuana were better educated, had fewer children at home, more adults living in their homes, less childcare responsibilities, higher education and greater independence than the non marijuana-using mothers in the study.


Conclusion

Illicit drug use is only one variable that may affect pregnancy. The legal drugs alcohol and tobacco appear to be more dangerous to infants than most popular illegal drugs. More to the point, variables such as undernourishment, social status, poverty, general health, lack of shelter, and environmental factors all significantly affect pregnancy outcomes more than drug use itself.

It is well documented that when pregnant, drug using women are offered non-judgmental midwifery services and social and economic support, maternal outcomes are similar to those seen in non drug-using mothers.

Punishing pregnant women suspected of illicit drug use will not be contained to only the small population of "hard drug" users. All women and their infants will be affected with increased prying, urine testing, and unwarranted seizures. The increased medical, social service, and legal regulation of women who use drugs during pregnancy ignores and obscures deeper issues of social control, gender, class and race bias.

Maternal drug use is presented as so "dangerous" that intervention by the state is considered worthy, even when such interventions clearly cause more harm than they reduce, while undermining civil liberties in the most fundamental manner.

Suggested Reading:
The Children of Neverland. Gideon Koren (1997).
Drugs Pregnancy & Childcare. The Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence (1992).
"Drug use in pregnancy." British Journal of Hospital Medicine. Mary Hepburn (1993).
The pregnant drug addict. Catherine Siney (1995).
 
H****n and C****e use during pregnancy cannot be healthy for the mom or baby. I have a hard time believing that.
 
:hmmmm::hmmmm: I'm confused!

"I left the references to other drugs out in the report. These drugs you mention are proven to damage the foetus.

Pls watch other drug references"
__________________


"Yet the scientific evidence shows that the use of marijuana during pregnancy is essentially harmless and in some cases even beneficial, and that the use of h***n or c***e is not an impediment to having a healthy child, if the mother can afford proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle."
 
Most of what they prescribe for pregnant women for pain comes from the opium poppy. It's one of the safest for them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all narcotics opium based? Of course, the stronger pain meds are narcotics.
 
If it were me (and a girl, and pregnant) i wouldn't smoke pot whilst pregnant or anywhere in the vacinity of the child until it has matured (that is to say, it has a fully formed adult brain).

I have three children and would never smoke anywhere near them.

I'm unsure as to whether or not cannabis can have an affect on a human brain that is still developing; I can't find much research about it and therefore wouldn't be prepared for my children to be part of the clinical trial.

But that's just my opinion.

Furthermore; my eldest is 8; it won't be long until be "finds out" about pot and i get to take his stash, tell him off, send him to his room and skin up lol I will be asking him to leave it alone until his brain is fully formed (if there's no proper research by that time) but ultimately it'll be his choice.
 
hello there I like to ask .if a man smoke weed everyday about 10 joints and doing this about 8 years.And he disaited to have kid.is smoking so much cannabis can do some damage.lets say man cant get women pregnet .or child gonna born healthy ?thank you for your answer.like to see some medical opinion if it possible.please don't start saying think if you are not 100% sure.
 
Guessing English isn't your first language. I've smoked more than that for a lot longer, and my 2 year old son is perfectly fine and healthy. If there's something wrong with his sperm, it was genetic, not caused by weed
 
Guessing English isn't your first language. I've smoked more than that for a lot longer, and my 2 year old son is perfectly fine and healthy. If there's something wrong with his sperm, it was genetic, not caused by weed

yes English is my 3th language.im sorry that :) well I have son of 5 years .im man.my ex wife,my baby mother smoket weed when she was pregnant es well.my son is perfect fine ,I can even say he is a genius :) I ask that question because I think about future.and because I read what 2pac cant make her girlfriend pregnant because he smoket to much weed.it was her words.sorry again for my English :Namaste:
 
well he does not have any kids I check already.and come to article about her girlfriend speaks what whey want have kid ,but he smoke to much weed and she dint get pregnant .I don't know is it true or lie.but 2pac do not have any kids.
 
It's all good, no need to apologize for language. Just hard to decipher sometimes. Yeah, i think my son is ahead of the curve too. My ol lady don't smoke but I do, like a chimney. But I wouldn't worry about any of that, snoop dogg has plenty of kids, and I know he's never slowed down his smoking habit. But I do believe the stoner babies are a little smarter out the gate.
 
must be these imposter kids claiming pac is there dad,shows a girl and a boy.kinda sick

I do know,at the time pac was kicking,that was my heyday and I smoked 20 joints a day,and gallons of whiskey,my daughter is entering her 3rd year of university. my wife has never ever touched the stuff.
 
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