How can weed affect pregnancy and fetus

As it is common knowledge, pregnancy is a very physically and mentally trying period for a woman and it lasts for 9 freaking months.

Although many would not admit it, there is almost always a personal bias regarding the gender of your baby. You might have been expecting a baby girl and pre-planned all sorts of activity with your little girl in your head but ifyou happen to check the gender of your fetus and the results are opposite to your expectation, there is definitely some level of disappointment and anxiety associated.

This makes it a bit harder to carry your baby for 9 months. The most important thing for you is to incubate a healthy baby and for that, you need a proper mental stability.

If you are wondering whether the marijuana you smoke or the edibles you eat can be passed onto the fetus, then sadly the answer is yes!

There are 2 main active ingredients in marijuana: tetrahydrocannabinol(THC) and cannabidiol(CBD). THC is the primary psychoactive ingredient while CBD is the major non-psychoactive one.

Studies showing the link between THC exposure to embryonic development and the deficits it can produce in the Central Nervous System have already been conducted. However, not many studies have been conducted to show the effects of CBD on embryonic development.

Moreover, CBD is the non-psychoactive ingredient that has been used as an anxiolytic, an appetite stimulant, an analgesic, and as many other remedies. When a pregnant woman says that they are

relieved from the morning sickness and nausea after using marijuana, CBD is the chemical majorly responsible for it. The main ingredients of marijuana(THC and CBD) will pass through your body into your

developing baby through the placenta. In humans, it is difficult to know about the effects of these chemicals in the fetus. This is because marijuana users generally use other substances like tobacco and alcohol along with it. The cannabis used also isn't standardized for strength or quantity either.

Most importantly, it is ethically and physically arduous to convince a pregnant lady to use marijuana for the sake of an experiment.

But, there was a research done jointly by a group of scientists Kazi T. Ahmed, Md Ruhul Amin, Parv Shah & Declan W. Ali. It was published on Scientific Reports(Article No. 10518) on 12th July 2018. They studied the impact of brief(5-hr) exposure of THC and CBD on the motor neuron development in zebrafish. This was done during the earliest phase of embryonic development in the fish known as gastrulation. In gastrulation, the differentiation of cell lines becomes apparent for the first time and occurs between 5.25-10.75 hours post fertilization in zebrafish. Their experiment provided some very worrying results. Hatching, survival and even heart rate were compromised to a great extent. In addition exposure of the embryo to THC and CBD also produced deformities in it and the length of the body was also affected negatively with increasing concentrations.

The embryos were exposed to an increasing concentration of CBD((1, 2, 3 and G mg/L) and the results were similar to that produced by exposure to THC. There was an increasing curving of the tail,

deformities and cardiac edema with increasing doses of CBD. In addition to these, the effect of THC and

CBD exposure to the survival and hatching of the embryo was also conducted. The rates of hatching and survival were also negatively impacted by exposure to THC and CBD. Survival rate was studied for a duration of 5 days. Within the first 3 days, the embryos exposed to 2-8 mg/L THC experienced similar survival rates to those of the Untreated Control. However, by day 5 embryos exposed to 8 mg/L THC had a survival rate of 3H 10% and those exposed to 10 mg/L THC displayed a survival rate of only 5 , 5%.

A shocking finding was that the effect of CBD on the survival rates was even more severe to that of THC. The severe effect was noticed from Day 1. On the first day itself, embryos treated to 3 mg/L CBD had a survival rate of 54 t 3% and those exposed to 4 mg/L CBD had a survival rate of 47 t BOYS.

By day 5, survival rates were 65 i 11% in the group exposed to 1 mg/L CBD and 56 i 14% in the group exposed to 2 mg/L CBD. The survival rate dropped drastically in the group exposed to 3 mg/L CBD to 20 i 6% and dropped even further alarmingly at 5 l - 2% in the 4 mg/L CBD treated group.

The rate of hatching was also negatively impacted by dosing the embryos with THC and CBD. In most cases, only 75% of the subjects exposed to THC had hatched regardless of the concentration.

In the case of CBD treated specimens. The heartbeat was also impacted negatively by the dosage in a severe manner. The exposure to lOng/L THC dropped the heart rate by 50% in the embryos. Similarly, the response to touch and sound stimulus were also negatively impacted by dosing the embryos to THC and CBD. The number of branches of the primary motor axons was also reduced. Thus, knowing the results of the experiment it is evident that the effect of marijuana on the developing embryo is only bad.

In the case of humans, what is more concerning is the fact that human gastrulation occurs during the 3rd week of embryogenesis and is so early that pregnancy remains undetected. Hence, taking marijuana during this phase of pregnancy could prove to be drastic to the development of the fetus. Although not fully proved, research done on the subject also shows that pregnant women who use marijuana have a 2.3 time higher risk of stillbirth. Studies have also claimed that babies born to mothers who use marijuana during or a few months before pregnancy are underweight, premature or/and have smaller heads at birth. Looking at the experiment mentioned earlier, we can definitely see that these claims definitely hold a solid ground. We can now clearly see that using marijuana during pregnancy is bad, period! But what about using it during the nursing phase?