Is Mirijauna the New Thalidomide?

Thalidomide hurt children back in the 1950s and 60s. Will we never learn from past mistakes?

Women are warned against smoking and using alcohol during pregnancy, but a new potential medical crisis looms on the horizon for babies in the womb and their moms. "Dispensaries" of mirijauna are advising women to use the drug during pregnancy to alleviate morning sickness. According to a recent article in the U.K.'s Daily Mail:

a multitude of studies over several years have shown all forms of cannabis to be ‘teratogenic’. Meaning that, like tobacco or excessive alcohol, they can harm a foetus.
The drug has been linked to a host of serious birth defects, including at least six life-threatening deformities. 

They include two congenital heart problems; a neurological condition called anencephaly, in which a child is born with a large portion of the brain missing, often dying within hours; and the birth defect gastroschisis, where the intestines develop outside the body. 

‘Babies exposed to marijuana in utero are at increased risk of admission to neonatal intensive care units,’ says Torri Metz, a University of Utah professor who was among the Colorado study’s authors. 

‘There are also concerns about possible long-term effects on the developing brain, impacting cognitive function and decreasing academic ability later in childhood.’

It's been a long time since the thalidomide disaster of the 1950s and '60s, too long for women of child-bearing age to remember. But the data is out there and the harmful effects of mirijuana use during pregnancy are likely to be serious.

Pray that action is taken to warn moms against the lie that mirijauna is "medical" and an appropriate prescription for morning sickness.

Read more:

At Mother to Baby

At the National Institute on Drug Abuse

At Health Line