people who use cannabis during pregnancy and lactation do so to manage pregnancy-related symptoms and pre-existing conditions, including nausea and vomiting, mental health and insomnia, says a study led by mcmaster university researchers.
the study results have been published
online
in the canadian medical association journal (cmaj).
the researchers examined the reasons for using cannabis before pregnancy, during pregnancy and during lactation by interviewing 52 people recruited from across canada, of whom 51 were women and 1 identified as nonbinary. all had used cannabis before their pregnancy.
the study showed that reasons for using cannabis varied from pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy and during lactation. before pregnancy and during lactation, participants described three categories of reasons for using cannabis including recreation, symptom management and coping. during pregnancy, participants marked symptom management as their main motivation to use cannabis.
“the dynamic nature of the reasons for use across stages speaks to how participants perceive benefits and risks, and perhaps indicates a desire to cast cannabis use during pregnancy as therapeutic because of perceived stigma,” said meredith vanstone, principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of family medicine.