More expecting mothers using marijuana to help morning sickness

Expecting mothers are choosing marijuana over prescription drugs more than ever before.

Action News Jax Kevin Clark spoke with one of these local mothers, who wanted to remain anonymous.

She said she used marijuana while she was pregnant to help with her morning sickness.

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“I was just so tired of being sick all the time,” she told us. “I lost 20 pounds in the first couple weeks of my pregnancy. I couldn’t keep food down.”

She said prescription drugs weren’t working, and she needed more and more of them.

She skeptically turned to marijuana after learning about the success of other moms online.

“When I started using it, it would take five minutes,” she said. “It’d kick in, and you don’t feel the high. It just takes care of the issue.”

According to a 2015 government survey on drug use, almost 4 percent of pregnant women said they’d recently used marijuana.

In 2002, that number was 2.4 percent.

Among expecting moms who are younger, the numbers are even higher.

Analysis we found shows more than 6 percent of pregnant women between 18 and 25 said they used the drug.

While the numbers seem small, it’s an alarming trend for doctors.

Evidence regarding marijuana’s effect on the unborn child is limited, but medical groups recommend that pregnant women stop using the drug.

Dr. Joe Spillane, of UF Health, said early research suggests a decrease in visual memory and attention as the child grows.

“Clearly, it crosses the placenta at a time when there’s neurodevelopment going on,” Spillane said. “The system is being overloaded with cannabinoids and that is important for the development of the memory and visual memory.”

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But the local mom who spoke with us said her now 2-month-old son is healthy, without any side effects.

“He’s in the 99th percentile of a 6-month-old,” she said.

She said other expecting moms should do their own research and try marijuana if they feel it’s right for them.

“If people want to consider me a bad mom because I did something naturally, rather than taking a prescription medication where the side effects are so much worse, I feel like they’re judging a book by its cover,” she said.

Cox Media Group