Marijuana use during pregnancy seriously impairs the development and health of the fetus. Among the possible damages that newborns who have been exposed to marijuana when they were in the womb could suffer, are malformations, intrauterine fetal growth retardation, childhood leukemia, etc.
A recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, developed by researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo (Brazil), shows that these babies also suffer behavioral changes during the first days after birth.
In the investigation they studied 561 newborn babies, 26 of them had been exposed to marijuana, they knew this after examining the mother's hair and the baby's feces, since only one of the mothers acknowledged having smoked marijuana during pregnancy. The experts who examined the babies did not know which of them were those who had been exposed to the drug, controlled everyone's neurobehavioral responses and the results showed that babies whose mothers had used marijuana showed greater excitement, were more irritable, responded less to the stimuli and it was harder to calm them down.
They also showed greater anxiety, startled more easily and cried much more.
The authors explain that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, reaches the blood of the fetus through the placenta, and ensures that it triggers the expression of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which can cause alterations of the nervous system in the long term.
Unfortunately, there are still babies who pay the consequences of their mother's folly (among other things), which has robbed them of the right to be born healthy.
