"The Effects of Marijuana on Fertility and Pregnancy"
Approximately one in six couples are unable to conceive after a year,
despite trying, and are labeled infertile,
and in up to half the cases it may be the man's fault.
There are several lifestyle factors that have been associated
with diminished sperm production such as smoking cigarettes.
But what about smoking marijuana?
Regular marijuana smoking more than once per week
was associated with about a 28% lower sperm concentration,
lower total sperm count based on a study of more than a thousand men,
but no adverse association was found for irregular use,
meaning less than once a week.
Now this wasn't a randomized study, and so there may have been other factors
that go along with regular marijuana use that could have really been to blame,
but they took into account cigarettes and alcohol and other drugs
and STDs and things like that.
But there's always a possibility there was something else
for which they didn't control.
Findings were similar for women.
Hundreds of infertile couples were studied in California,
and just like men had about a quarter fewer sperm,
a quarter fewer eggs were retrieved from women using cannabis
more than 90 times in their lifetime or using the year before.
Again, there could have been confounding factors,
but until we know more, couples that are trying to conceive
may want to make the joint decision to turn over a new leaf.
What about during pregnancy?
Medical authorities recommend that women even contemplating pregnancy
should be encouraged to discontinue marijuana use
and not use during pregnancy or lactation,
although the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine suggests the known benefits
of breast milk currently outweigh any potential harms for women
who continue to smoke it.
Despite these warnings from authorities, marijuana use has increased
among pregnant women in recent years, up 60%,
but that's only from about 2.5% up to less than 4%,
less than half the frequency of non-pregnant women.
Why are OB/GYNs so down on getting high?
You'll see scary articles in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
making claims like this: a large study supposedly documenting
a significantly increased risk for a serious birth defect.
But if you don't just take their word for it and pull up the actual study,
you'll see that the association wasn't statistically significant after all.
"Objective education about marijuana and pregnancy is good,
but biased education is not."
There have been some risks identified.
Infants may be more likely to be born anemic, or have a lower birth weight,
or require intensive care, compared to
infants of mothers who do not use marijuana.
But it's difficult to determine the direct effects of maternal cannabis
use on the developing fetus because of a variety of confounding factors
for which studies may not have been able to completely control.
Studies also show links between prenatal marijuana exposure
and learning problems later in life manifesting years later at school,
and that's really where the greater concern lies,
the potential long-term effects on brain development.
So even after weeding out the myths, there is enough concern
that pregnant and breast-feeding women should indeed probably be advised
to either decrease or, where possible, cease cannabis use entirely.