Indopedia All Things Marijuana
While previous research has tied teen drug and alcohol use to higher odds of multiple sex partners and pregnancy, the current study offers fresh insight into marijuana use among young women.
About 14 percent of pregnant girls ages 12 to 17 smoke marijuana, compared to roughly 6 percent of their non-pregnant peers, the study found. By contrast, older pregnant women were at least half as likely to smoke pot as their peers.
Among all pregnant women ages 12 to 44 in the study, about 6 percent reported marijuana use during the first trimester, while 3 percent said they smoked pot in the second trimester and about 2 percent use the drug in the third and final trimester.
“These findings should be considered in a broader context in which young people increasingly view marijuana not just as a benign, but even as a beneficial drug,” said lead study author Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland.
“The higher prevalence of marijuana use observed in the first trimester as opposed to later in the…
