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92% of Pregnant Users Surveyed Report Relief
MARIJUANA EFFECTIVE AGAINST MORNING SICKNESS: STUDY
92% of Pregnant Users Surveyed Report Relief
The controversial use of medicinal marijuana as a weapon against pregnancy-induced morning sickness has been given a boost in a B.C. study to be published by a British journal.
While women are traditionally told to avoid drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, one researcher from each of the Vancouver Island and B.C. Compassion Societies and the University of B.C. and the University of Victoria looked to see if pregnant therapeutic users of medical marijuana reported relief from their nausea and vomiting.
The researchers found that 92 per cent of the women surveyed rated pot's effect on morning-sickness symptoms as either "very effective" or "effective."
The study will be published by the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, likely in 2006, said Philippe Lucas, co-author of the report.
"This is the first time that compassion-club-based research will be published in a peer-reviewed, Elsevier-listed medical journal," said Lucas, who founded the Vancouver Island Compassion Society.
UBC breastfeeding and marijuana expert Roberta Hewat was reluctant to comment on the study, but said that two major academic texts say marijuana use during pregnancy was "contraindicated" because it suppresses milk production.
Hewat also quoted the 2005 edition of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession by R.A. and R.M. Lawrence as saying: "Animal studies have shown that structural changes occur in the brain cells of newborn animals nursed by mothers whose milk contained cannabis. Because brain cell development is still taking place in the first months of life, any remote chance that DNA and RNA metabolism is altered should be viewed with concern."
Medicinal marijuana use for morning sickness is illegal for all but therapeutic users approved by Ottawa. |
