Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy

Various aspects of social life may change dramatically. A good example is the attitude towards some substances that are currently prohibited, but used to be widely used. While some of them, for example, heroin are considered to be heavy drugs, others, such as cannabis, are perceived differently by the contemporary society. Nevertheless, the consumption of those substances may have a dramatic impact on the fetus as well as children from their infancy to adolescence.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy

The evidence suggests that those children whose mothers smoked marijuana during their pregnancy are likely to be born of smaller weight and height than their counterparts. This might be explained by the fact that their growing body is exposed to substances that inhibit natural growth (Volkow, Baler, Compton & Weiss, 2014). As a result, they may not meet the norm of physical development in the future (Minnes, Lang & Singer, 2011). All this leads to the understanding that smoking during pregnancy has long-lasting medical consequences.

Another point that needs to be mentioned is that the use of marijuana by mothers might condition the further substance abuse behavior of the children. While children may not be drawn to marijuana at once, it is possible that they might be willing to consume other substances (Muckle et al. 2011). This, in turn, will lead to other negative medical consequences that they will face in their life (Jaques et al. 2014). That is why one might assume that smoking during pregnancy might contribute to similar behavior in the future.Impact of Use of Marijuana during Pregnancy

The studies also show that children whose mothers smoked tend to have lower cognitive skills than their peers. It is obvious that at first, it is rather difficult to detect because of various factors, particularly young age (Bailey, McCook, Hodge & McGrady, 2012). However, when proper cognitive ability tests are administered later in the future, the children who have been exposed to marijuana score significantly less (Gordon, Conley & Gordon, 2013). There is no doubt that this will have a negative impact on their future life.