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Marijuana Use and Pregnancy; Research Review

Posted By admin on May 28th, 2010

I recently had a 28 year old pregnant patient ask me about the potential effects of cannabis use on her pregnancy.  She had been using cannabis to treat ongoing migraine headaches with great results.    Because I very rarely work with pregnant women as part of my professional practice I had to hit the books and look for what research is out there on how cannabis affects the pregnancy, neonatal growth and the future development of the child.   Here is a summary of what I found.

In 1992, self reported cannabis use during pregnancy was 2.9% of pregnant women.  However some studies found use to be between 10-16% in middle class samples and 23-30% in inner-city populations.

The major study that I found was the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS) which looked at cannabis use in 682 women in Ottawa Canada.

Studies during pregnancy are obviously limited by the small amount of people but this is what they found thus far (keep in my we often in medicine think medications are safe only to find out that they are in fact dangerous)

Cannabis’ impact on the overall course of pregnancy:

- reduction in gestational age by 1 week; increase in the frequency of contractions. Possible association with pre-term delivery. No physical abnormalities were found at birth.  Heavy use was associated with ocular hypertention and severe epicanthus.

-low protein diets made the adverse effects of cannabis more pronounced.

Cannabis’ impact on growth and neonatal and infant behavior:

-infants have shown to have smaller head circumference.   Visual habituation is affected.   Prolonged startle response and resting tremors similar to patients undergoing opioid withdrawal.

Cannabis’ impact on adolescents:

-decrease in the ability to accomplish goal oriented tasks.

Based on the clinical research that has been completed I would strongly advise against medicating with cannabis during pregnancy.

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Marijuana and Chronic Pain Research: Small doses effective.

Posted By Dr. Sean Breen on April 26th, 2010

The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California at San Diego is committed to studying the medical benefits of cannabis.   It regularly conducts clinical trials for various medical conditions, most of the centered around pain and muscle spasticity.   It findings clearly show that marijuana (cannabis) is effective in treating acute and chronic pain.

What is interesting is that researches found that patients do not have to get high in order to get pain relief.   They found that cannabis used in smaller amounts was just as effective as patients who took larger doses.

These findings are very significant as many patients do not want to lose any of their mental faculties when they are medicating for pain relief. Patients can vaporize in small doses and still be able to function.

If you would like to read about these studies you can visit UCSD’s website at http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/

If you suffer from chronic pain and would like to see if cannabis can improve the quality of your life feel free to give us a call at 877-721-0047 or visit my website at www.mcsocal.com

I look forward to taking care of you.

Respectfully,

Dr. Breen

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Limiting Risks Associated with Marijuana (Cannabis) Use

Posted By Dr. Sean Breen on October 5th, 2009

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I evaluate the benefits and risks of using cannabis (marijuana) with patients every day.   Interesting many patients are not aware that there are risks associated with using cannabis.  I often her people quoting statistics that show “there has never been a documented overdose from cannabis” and use that as the gold standard for qualifying it’s safety profile.  Although that happens to be a fact “there has not been one documented overdose from cannabis” I think that there is some naivety in that statement.  Here are some things to consider.

1.  Because cannabis is psychoactive, meaning it affects a patients judgement, balance, perception, coordination and cognitive functions like concentration and short term memory, there are risks inherently associated with its use.  For example, elderly patients who use cannabis have to be extremely careful when using cannabis.  They can lose their balance, fall and fracture their hip or other bones.  Patients who use cannabis and drive are more susceptible to accidents.  I often tell my patients “‘just because no one has overdosed doesn’t mean you can’t lose you balance and fall down a flight of stairs and break your neck.”  So that is the first and most important risk associated with using cannabis.  That risk can be reduced by taking basic safety precautions.

2. Cannabis can speed up your heart rate (medically termed tachycardia).  Have you ever used cannabis and felt like your heart was racing?  If so it is because cannabis has what is referred to as anti-cholinergic affects on the body and can seep up your heart rate.   This is a concern if patients have had a significant cardiac history such as a heart attack or stroke.    I always ask my patients that have cardiac histories if they currently exercise at all.  If so then the risk is limited, but certainly something to consider.

3.  Cannabis should not be used with other central nervous system depressants like alcohol and benzodiazepines such as Xanax/Valium and because of the increased risks associated with compounding the psychoactive effects of the medication.

4. If you speak with addiction specialists who treat patients who have been using cannabis chronically for long periods of time they often describe a syndrome where patients lack motivation and have a general apathetic mood.  This is certainly concerning if people are truly not reaching the full potential of what God intended for them.

Overall, cannabis is a much safer drug then the majority of medications that patients take for pain, anxiety, sleep etc. but I just wanted to share some of what I think are the real risks associated with its use.

If you would like more information on the medicinal use of cannabis please feel free to visit our website at www.MCSoCal.com  You can pre-qualify for free online from the comfort of your home.  Our clinics are located in Encinitas, Irvine and Long Beach.   877-721-0047

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