Pregnancy and Cannabis Use

Written By: Samantha B. Hutto

At the beginning of 2016, there were four states that had legalized recreational cannabis and twenty-three that allowed the sale of marijuana for medical use. According to Web MD, medical marijuana can help with multiple ailments including Crohn's disease, seizer disorders, poor appetite, and weight loss caused by chronic illness, such as HIV, or nerve pain. The advancement of this new found industry continues to snowball and the world is finally going green, only in a different way than expected and with a lot of snags along the way that make it necessary for us to re evaluate how cannabis is viewed as a medicine. There has been a constant increase in use among 18-25 year olds, childbearing age, which leads us to the question of our female users and the effects it can have on pregnancy. Is it safe for women to use and how does it compete with widely used prescriptions?

No one has more eyes on them then the baby baring mother. The one who is to treat her body as a temple and do only what is best for this being growing inside of them, one that is dependent on her every move. Pregnant women all over the world are turning to cannabis to ease their “morning sickness” and suppress it enough to eat while helping to relieve other aches, stresses, and anxieties. At the same time, they face the whiplash of public opinion that continues to push her back in the darkness. She must juggle the social stigma and well being of herself and her child.

Even with the lack of research and the social stigma attached to it, women from all over the world are sharing their thoughts and experiences of using cannabis during pregnancy publicly for everyone to hear. A shift in public opinion is happening. The common response to many of the articles relating to this issue seem to be that most people want to see the decision left up to the mother and not based on unproven statistics. We us the words, maybe, possibly, potentially; No one really knows what the effects will be and shouldn’t forget the effects of currently prescribed medications.

What do women have to say?

Amongst the countless articles and threads of post responses, one would find many from mothers themselves giving their opinions and first hand experiences such as Kathryn, who say’s  “If it were not for cannabis while pregnant I would've lost it all. I was sick throwing up for the first 7 1/2 months. I lost 30+ pounds. Cannabis allowed me to eat enough for the baby before I'd get sick. She was and still is a very beautiful intelligent baby, now woman. Born 7lbs 3oz, 19" long and lifting her head in recovery to just look around. Shocked the nurses helping me. I did everything au natural. She is perfect in every way!” Sky, mother of 3, responded to an article titled Cannabis and Pregnancy: A Mater of Choice by stating “I had 24/7 morning sickness. I lost 40 lbs. each of the three times I was pregnant. During my pregnancies. Then I smoked weed, I ate, I didn't throw up, stopped losing weight. My Dr. said it saved me and my kids life since I had been starving and dehydrated before I started smoking. I have grown children now, who are all gifted and have high IQs. They're healthy, one even has given me two healthy grandchildren. Yeah, weed is bad my ass. Saved me and my kids thank you!”

As far as those who have anything bad to say tend to be stuck on the issue of literally “smoking” cannabis and the dangers of carbon monoxide intake. Opinions may very well shift with our advancements in technology take the smoke out of cannabis use. Cannabis use has and will for a while longer be stereotyped as sitting on your couch, in a smoke filled room, hitting a bong. Advancements in extraction technologies has brought the public new ways of consuming or absorbing their cannabis product of choice. Tinctures, oils, lotions, edibles, vaporizers, and suppositories are amongst the many alternatives. You could eat a cookie, drink a tea, or spread it on toast. You can rub it on your skin or soak in it.  I believe the alternative ways of medicating yourself and the understanding of whole plant medicine is the key to changing the bad perception of pregnant women utilizing cannabis during pregnancy. 
What do the studies show for using cannabis while pregnant? Each study has come up with their own conclusions causing a clash of information making it difficult for the public to really form an opinion. There is now more of a demand for an answer because of the widespread use and new acceptance sweeping the nation.

Cannabis is not a super drug, or a magic pill. It is a complex plant that can be grown at varying rates of THC and CBD and customized to the needs of the patient. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant while Cannabinol, or CBD is said to provide the healing qualities that so many people are stammering to get their hands on but will not provide you with the “high”. The lack of psychoactive reactions makes it ideal for those looking to utilize the healing power of the cannabis plant while staying right in the head.  Each person differs chemically and therefore will react differently to varying amounts. This is what makes whole plant medicine and research so important. Society can not continue to place cannabis under the “Stoner umbrella”, that everyone is doing it to get high. Well, you now know that at different levels it can actually be more therapeutic than psychoactive.

What The Studies Say

  In 2011, an Australian study of 24,874, women who provided information about cannabis use were included in the analysis. Initially, all the women would be interviewed about their use of cannabis and other substances.  These women were all birthing at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, over a 7year period from 2000 to 2006. The result showed that cannabis use in pregnancy was associated with low birth weight, confidence interval, preterm labor, being small for gestational age, and a higher change of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Another study done in the 1980’s was that where they analyzed 12,424 women and their children to evaluate the relationship between marijuana usage and pregnancy concerns. The conclusion of their study is that the use of cannabis can raise the chances that your child is born with low birth weight, short gestation, and major malformations. Not that it causes it. With this study, and many others, they will find themselves needing more information and data to support their claims that there is a link between cannabis and major malformations.

This also leads to the fact that most women using marijuana are also users of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs. Making it difficult to point the blame at one substance. Although there have been studies dating back to the 1960’s regarding cannabis use during pregnancy, there can be many variables that can alter the results such as women not fully or at all disclosing all the information needed to consider inregards to their drug use. The fact that there are still so many variables that could sway these results makes it difficult to take their results as one and done. One must argue that they are not true experiments of cannabis but cannabis in conjunction with other substances.

Due to ethical obligation researchers can not necessarily expose pregnant women to something “potentially” dangerous but it is possible to do small studies based on volunteers. The Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute(CCTSI), at the University of Colorado Denver, was recently awarded a Child andMaternal Health Pilot Grant to Torri Metz, MD, so she could study the detection of prenatal marijuana use in a legalized environment. Metz also believes that there is not enough to say cannabis use is bad and states “If you look at the literature now, you find very mixed results”. Metz and colleagues will develop a survey for mothers to self-report their use of marijuana. They will also take a sample of their umbilical cord blood when they deliver their baby to determine if the subject did indeed use marijuana through pregnancy, and to what extent. As a result, researchers will be able to see if the self-report agrees with the umbilical cord sample. This allows the researchers to determine the best way to garner information about marijuana use during pregnancy for future studies. 

Despite what direction you choose, according to Womenshealth.gov, When deciding whether or not to use a medicine during pregnancy, you and your doctor need to discuss the medicine's benefits and risks. There may be times during pregnancy when using medicine is a choice. Carrying a child alters the decisions you may make when you are not pregnant, such as holding out and fighting through a cold instead of taking something to suppress and cure it.  Small colds can be much more damaging to your unborn child than on your own adult body. On the other hand, this medicine may be needed despite your personal choice. Sometimes, women need medicine for a few days to a couple of weeks to treat a problem like a bladder infection or strep throat. Other women need to use medicine every day to control long-term health problems like asthma, diabetes, depression, or seizures. These problems might also include severe nausea and vomiting, earlier pregnancy losses, or preterm labor.

  Prescribed Drugs and Their Effects

Let’s look at the prescribed drugs currently used by pregnant woman to aid in pain, stress, and eating habits. It is important that current drugs approved by the FDA, Federal Drug Administration, be looked at for use while carrying a child and compare their risks with those of cannabis. Because that’s really what it about. Right? Weighing out the pros and cons before making a decision will always point you to the best direction but sometimes that best choice may not be available to you or you are told you can not use it.

If you become pregnant and begin experiencing issues, such as morning sickness, the first thing most of us do these days is get on good ol’ Google. Many women will naturally be concerned with any types of medicines but especially nausea medications. Most likely they will come across the drug Thalidomide, which was used to treat morning sickness in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Thalidomide's tragic history led to the strengthening of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the development of regulations regarding medication use during pregnancy. Most women will attempt to deal with these symptoms with little treatment, but ten to fifteen percent eventually will require medication because they face more serious complications such as dehydration or weight loss.

Metoclopramide, sold under the brand name Reglan, is one of the most commonly used prescription medications for treatingchemotherapy patient’s nausea but can be used during pregnancy, if other therapies have failed. The key words here are “if other therapies have failed” would those therapies include cannabis? Is it a matter of the lessor or both evils?

In a study, done in Denmark from 1997 to2011, researchers reviewed over 1.2 million pregnancies including 28,486 infants who were exposed to metoclopramide in the first trimester and another 113,698 who were not and found no association between the drug and major malformations. The study also found no increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, low birth weight or fetal growth restriction. Although the outcome seems promising, just as with cannabis, metoclopramide’s studies are still done on such a small scale that given the low rate of issues, there is no way of telling without continued research and large test groups.

 Women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression. Between 14-23% of women will struggle with some symptoms of depression during pregnancy. Dramatic hormonal changes occur during pregnancy, and these can affect mood. Mood disorders arebiological illnesses that involve changes in brain chemistry, which aredirectly related to depression and anxiety. Many things can play a role in increased depression during pregnancy including an unwanted pregnancy or lack of support. Women with depression usually experience some symptoms such as persistent sadness, sleeping too much or not enough, recurring thoughts of death, suicide, or hopelessness, Anxiety, or they may see a change in eating habits.

All of these symptoms can pose a potential risk to your child if they are not treated. Untreated depression can lead to poor nutrition, drinking/smoking, and suicidal behavior, which can then cause premature birth, low birth weight, and developmental problems. Awoman who is depressed often does not have the strength or desire toadequately care for herself or her developing baby. Women taking an anti depressant will most likely be urged to be weaned off the drug by the third trimester in order to keep their babies from “withdrawal” symptoms such as breathing problems, jitteriness, irritability, trouble feeding, or hypoglycemia. The downside to this is that taking a women off ofher medication could result in the depression returning and potentially causingdamage to the mother and baby.

What are these women to do without the medication needed to subdue their anxiety or depression? They must keep themselves safe from the risks that come with being taken off of the medication that allows them to live a healthy life for themselves and their child. I don’t think it is a matter of one over the other. It is a matter of using what works best based on the individual. Weighing out the pros and cons of everything you put into your body should be a ritual. It doesn’t mean you have to make the “right” choice. It just means that the a total view should be taken into consideration before coming to a conclusion or spreading our unproven opinions.

Why I Chose To Discuss This Topic

I am forming my opinion solely on the fact that I have experienced violent bouts of vomiting and have found relief in cannabis.  I have not experienced being pregnant nor giving birth. I do however face an issue that causes me to be nauseous and go through 12 hour periods of non stop vomiting, unable to keep even the smallest amount of water down. The second time I experienced this, I went to my doctor who would tell me nothing was wrong.  I was given the same drug used by chemotherapy patients to suppress their nausea throughout treatment. I would take anything at this point. I put that little pill under my tongue and waited for it to dissolve. All I wanted was a drink of water! The vomiting would continue and I lost faith in that little pill. I never found more relief than in that little joint or in an infused treat. Vomiting and not being able to eat or drink anything has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. If cannabis can help me eat without damaging me elsewhere, I am willing to do it. But I do not have another being growing inside of me. And what if I did?

Cannabis as a medicine will never be forced upon someone but it should never be denied. Especially, as a substitute to drugs that can cause withdrawal in both the mother and child. Results from current research can be looked at all day long but ultimately the mother is who should have the right to decide what she does and does not consume. Continued research will lead the way to the ultimate answer.

Image 1: Received from http://www.sheknow.com
Image 2: Received from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1901482,00.html
Image 3: Received from http://cannador.com/cannabis-storage-box/

Combating Energy and Water Usage in the Cannabis Industry

Written By: Samantha B. Hutto 

I have been working in the horticulture industry since 2006 and currently co-own and operate a Colorado based consulting firm that specializes in build outs and operations. We push for automation and urge our customers to make environmentally conscious decisions when it comes to their grow. Although “weed land” seems like a great place where we are all just high, happy, and very, very hungry, it is actually filled with environmentally damaging processes that must be addressed in order to keep us from getting tagged as destroyers of what we all hold so dearly. Our Planet

More than 1,200 licensed grow facilities compose almost half of the new demand for power and water, which is being trucked into cultivation sites, at an estimated, hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.  There are plenty of other subjects to cover when it comes to the efficiency and ethics of cannabis/commercial cultivation but we need to find a solution to these two large issues that effects everyone living in a state with legal weed. Water and power.

I want these producers to see that there are ways to combat these issues and allow all of us to play nicely together while keeping mother earth in a single piece. I believe all large scale cannabis cultivation should be grown in an automated facility while being environmentally conscious to energy and water usage but it is currently and ultimately up to the morals and environmental ethics of the operator. Harmful practices reflect badly on the industry as a whole because we are all in this together, and so I believe we shall all go down with the ship and take the blame. We forget its not all about weed but creating a balance that is healthy for us and our environment.

Electricity use statewide has been increasing by 1 percent to 2 percent a year, due in part to population growth and legalization. Close to half of that increase comes from our cultivation facilities. In 2014, growing sites consumed as much power as 35,000 households. Our energy consumption is drastically increasing due to legalization and cultivation facilities that depend on powerful equipment. Excessive amounts of energy usage increase the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the air. These gas emissions include methane, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and fluorinated gases. Lighting and dealing with heat load accounts for most of the electrical cost in a commercial facility.

The second issue at hand is our water consumption. Water rights in Colorado are restricted to that of beneficial use such as irrigation but because a lot of the water is owned by federal agencies and cannabis is not legal on that level, they can deny the use of it. Right now a good percentage of facilities have to acquire the means such as a tanker truck to transport the water necessary for production. This can be consuming of money, time, and labor.

Our excessive water usage can lead to serious damages to our aquifers. According to my own calculations given the 1234 licenses X 3600 plant count minimum X 1 liter per day = A million gallons a day state wide just for cannabis and this number is conservative since some facilities can acquire a license for 3X that plant count. This is aiding in the depletion of natural water resources which leads to the following damages: lowering of the water table, increased cost for the user, reduction of water in streams and lakes, and not to mention that groundwater pumping which lowers the groundwater levels below the depth that streamside or wetland vegetation needs to survive. The overall effect is a loss of wildlife habitat.

Colorado and all other legal states need to implement these minute changes to our cultivation facilities in order to combat our rising usages and prevent further issues such as droughts. If there is never a requirement to make environmentally smart choices cultivators will continue to purchase and use inefficient equipment to save money and cut corners. We need to make the technology and information available in order to change this.

In an effort to conserve energy and water, all facilities would ideally be fully automated for highest efficiency and include closed, recirculating systems for water conservation, collecting water from HVAC systems, energy efficient lighting to cut back on usage and if possible, supplemental clean energy. These solutions can not be forced upon any cultivators but is left up to their own environmental ethics. I hope to see regulation requiring efficiencies to be built in but for now all we can do is educate the industry and hope that they take it seriously.

I have compiled 4 ways we can drastically lower our water and energy usage. First, use closed systems allowing for recirculating of water. Professional greenhouses don’t feed by hand whatsoever, so why on earth would cannabis be any different? It’s not. It’s a matter of knowing what automated technology is available, and not only how to use it, but how to get it and how to install it. There are multiple closed systems to choose from including NFT (Nutrient Film Technique), DWC (Deep Water Culture), or even Drip Systems. Second, gather, sterilize, and reuse water from HVAC systems. Water collected will be ran through a UVC filter killing all water borne plant pathogens. Depending on the amount of humidity and temperature as well as the size of the plants, we can reclaim as much as 70% of the water irrigated to the plants. Third, buy efficient high voltage lighting allowing for less energy usage. High voltage lights have less losses in the conversion of electricity to output of light. Those losses are always in the form of heat, meaning, the savings also saves energy on the cooling. Lastly, invest in alternative energy to offset cost and usage. A medium-sized commercial grow with around 50 lights stands to save about $13,500 in electricity costs a year with the use of two Tesla Batteries. Many commercial greenhouses utilize what’s called a total energy system where they convert natural gas to electricity using small power plants of their own to help supplement the grid.

As new states legalize, I hope we learn to write in efficiency regulations as part of the licensing requirements and existing states will amend the regulations as well. This will create a much more efficient method that is environmentally friendly in the long term. A lot of us are being blinded by the revenue that can be produced from legal marijuana but we have an obligation to protect the land and beings that live on it. I would prefer that we take our action now to conserve water and energy before it has devastating effects that outweigh any amount of money.