Cannabis use in first trimester has ‘significant’ harmful effects on a fetus
Cannabis use early on in pregnancy can affect birthweight. Deposit Photos According to a small study, pregnant people using any form of cannabis should consider stopping due to potential harm to the fetus, even very early into pregnancy. The study published May 16 in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics looked very closely at the first trimester of pregnancy and found a “significant” decrease in birth weight of about one-third of a pound. [Related: Highway and traffic pollution could be connected to low birthweight.] “We show that even when marijuana use occurred only in the first trimester of pregnancy, birth weight was significantly reduced, by more than 150g on average,” Beth Bailey, a co-author and director of population health research at Central Michigan University, said in a statement. “If that use continued into the...