And pregnancy serves a sort of boot camp, with every decision feeling more monumental than the last, as a legion of friends, family, caregivers, influencers, and experts readily dispense opinions on all of it.
She thought some of her nausea was psychological — it was a mid-pandemic unplanned pregnancy — and some probably not.
Tara prefers a pipe, so they compromised on a bong, after her midwife suggested it would produce less carcinogens.
“I felt like I was hung-over, all day, every day,” she says, describing the first several months of her pregnancy.
Lindsay Ridgell, an Arizona woman who treated her extreme nausea during pregnancy with cannabis, was placed on the state’s child-abuse registry for alleged neglect when her newborn tested positive for exposure in 2019, and subsequently fired from her own job as a social worker for Arizona’s Department of Child Safety.
Of course, there are potential health risks, too, but with an evolving slate of scientific research about the plant’s effects on developing fetuses and breastfeeding babies, we are still learning exactly what, and how serious, they may be.
is now a $25 billion business — and women account for about one-third of the market — when it comes to pregnancy, the topic is still too stigmatized and, in some cases, too dangerous for patients to discuss with their caregivers.
That’s not to say that pregnant people aren’t consuming cannabis.
When I posed the question of weed in a doula-led private Telegram group of about 120 mostly Los Angeles moms, a handful piped up immediately saying they used it while breastfeeding; others said they were dying to, but afraid.
Many of the women who spoke to me for this story — even those who only considered consuming cannabis while pregnant or breastfeeding — asked that I only use their first names, or a different name altogether.
“There’s just such a feeling of shame around cannabis use, especially when pregnant, especially when breastfeeding,” she says.
But when she asked her OB/GYN whether there was any cannabis dose or type that could be safe, “she said, ‘I’m sorry, there’s just no research for me to be able to give you that clearance,’” Lisa remembers.
“I would sit in an armchair and just be gripping the arms of the chair and try to put something on TV to just try to escape how I was feeling,” she said.
Millions of women have used Diclegis, which was anointed with the FDA’s rare A-letter grade indicating the drug was studied in pregnancy and found to pose no risk to the fetus in the first trimester.
And I kept thinking my whole pregnancy: I know of a product that is very effective in helping me deal with nausea — cannabis.
This overt centering of the unborn — as opposed to the birthing person — will be familiar to anyone who has been pregnant in the U.S.
So she changed lanes and opted to have her baby with a midwife — a decision that cost her several thousand dollars out of pocket.
Jessica Diggs, a Los Angeles–based midwife, says the prioritizing of the fetus over the birthing person is endemic to the country’s mainstream medical care.
Emily Oster, the author of Expecting Better and the ParentData newsletter, has become something of a celebrity guru for science-minded parents by pushing against this culture with data analysis and human discussion.
Because the Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug with no acceptable medical use, it’s difficult and expensive for researchers to carry out controlled human studies — and next to unthinkable to do so with pregnant subjects.
“Like: ‘I use this in the following way with the following kind of gummies following this and that, and what do we know about that?’ And it’s like: nothing.
Hurd is well-known in the world of cannabis science, and her research historically has shown both good news for weed lovers.
Hurd was surprised to see how reliably those placental changes predicted future behavior.
Cannabinoids are a class of chemicals that include THC and CBD, which are naturally occurring in cannabis plants; the endocannabinoid system is a network of receptors throughout our bodies where those molecules bind and take effect.
“People say, ‘Oh, but cannabis is natural,’” Hurd says.
While it’s true that confounding factors like cigarette smoking or stress could also have impacted results, Hurd says her team has already shown that THC exposure similarly impacts animals’ placentas.
But in order to know which children could use those interventions, women must be able to safely discuss cannabis use with their doctors.
“Child services should not be called because mothers may have consumed cannabis … This is a medical issue that has a long-term impact on the medical health of their children.
During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, a perfect storm of racism, moral panic, and bad science fueled the war on drugs and created the myth of the “crack baby.” The government, the medical community, and the press demonized pregnant drug users — particularly Black women — as depraved monsters spawning a generation of helpless, damaged children.
Like a drug conviction, a positive drug test in the hospital can trigger a dehumanizing and damaging series of events: stigmatizing mothers as unfit parents, disrupting families through investigations, requiring classes and appearances that can encroach upon parents’ abilities to work and care for kids, and devastating parents and children alike through separation.
More than one woman told me she saw state involvement as the main threat when it came to consuming while pregnant.
Jessica Diggs, the Los Angeles–based midwife and reproductive-health educator at the online platform Loom, frequently discusses cannabis with her students and patients.
“If you’re a white couple, you’re walking into the hospital, you own a cannabis company, no one’s gonna bat an eye at all.
Shonitria Anthony, known as Blunt Blowin’ Mama to her podcast subscribers and 33,200 Instagram followers, is one of a cohort of advocate-slash-influencers working to destigmatize plant medicine and parenthood — sometimes selling ad partnerships, workshops, and products in the process.
“I smoked weed.” Later, Anthony says it became something of a daily wellness aid, helping her feel focused and calm.
The day we spoke, Anthony estimated she had 100 DMs on Instagram, the vast majority of which were questions about using weed during pregnancy and breastfeeding .
The latter question she addressed in a podcast conversation with Evonne Smith, a cannabis-friendly lactation consultant.
Anthony and Smith agree — as do researchers — that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risk of cannabis exposure.
“It’s not saying ‘don’t do it’ or ‘do it,’” Anthony tells me.
“Most moms that I encounter, who are asking if they should consume cannabis during pregnancy, have done research,” Anthony says.
Often it’s the research itself, and media coverage thereof, that puts pot-smoking moms on the defensive.
Both Snyder and Shonitria Anthony poke holes in studies for many of the same reasons Emily Oster does: It’s hard to untangle cannabis use from other confounding factors; studies were done before weed was legal, so products could be contaminated; we don’t know what kind of cannabis was consumed, or how, or how much.
But none of the researchers I spoke with sought to demonize or blame pregnant cannabis users, nor did anyone advocate for the involvement of the child-welfare system.
Judy Chang, an OB/GYN at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine whose research focuses on patient communication, has an idea of how those conversations could go.
And that trend makes me worried enough to be able to mention it to you and tell you why I’m concerned about your exposure,’” Chang says.
Much of what she learned about their relationship to cannabis surprised her — that they saw weed as more of a natural remedy than a drug, and that they truly wanted more information from doctors, but didn’t feel they would get it.
“That’s when I had to learn what a blunt was,” Chang says.
“People seem to open up rather than shut down,” Chang tells me of her experience starting these conversations.
Chang recognizes she’s suggesting a redesign when it comes to women’s care.
Lisa, the pastry chef who suffered through debilitating nausea and anxiety, says she loves being a mother today.
“Right now, I feel like the cost would be very high — mentally, physically, and emotionally,” she tells me.