No Pot While Pregnant

Did you know that you’re not supposed to smoke marijuana while pregnant?  I didn’t.  My wife didn’t.  No one told us during any of our three pregnancies.  Not that it was an issue; neither of us uses marijuana.  Still, given its prevalence and acceptance in California in general and the Bay Area in particular, I’m surprised it wasn’t part of the classes we took and that my wife’s doctors never mentioned it.  Sadly, we’re not the only ones who didn’t know.


A twenty-year-old woman in Colorado apparently didn’t know and her doctor didn’t tell her — or even ask if she was pregnant.  That misstep may very well cost him his license but even worse is that the woman’s child was born testing positive for marijuana and had initial feeding difficulties,” according to a complaint filed by state’s attorney general’s office on behalf of the Colorado Medical Board.

My wife, however, notes that from what she had read and seen on television shows about pregnancy, she would have assumed it would be a bad idea to smoke pot while pregnant, just as it would be bad to use other recreational drugs or even alcohol.  Interestingly, though, one of the books her obstetrician recommended said that drinking, in moderation, while pregnant was okay; when we asked about this, the doctor explained simply that “the author is European.”

Nonetheless, one must wonder who would think it was okay to use marijuana while pregnant; surely it would seem obvious that it could affect the baby and wouldn’t even a possibility that some harm might come of it be enough to convince you to abstain?  Did anyone tell you that “pregnancy is a contraindication for the use of medical marijuana,” as the Colorado complaint states, or did you figure that out on your own?  Or did you partake while pregnant and nothing happened?

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