Читать книгу Infants and Children in Context - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 154

The effects of cannabis, also referred to as marijuana, on prenatal development are not well understood because there are few long-term studies of its effects and existing studies vary both in quality and in conclusions (El Marroun et al., 2018). The main active ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, readily crosses the placenta to affect the fetus in lower doses than experienced by the mother (Alvarez, Rubin, Pina, & Velasquez, 2018). Cannabis use during early pregnancy negatively affects fetal length and birthweight and is associated with a thinner cortex, the outer layer of the brain, in late childhood, suggesting that there are long-term neurological effects (El Marroun et al., 2016; Gunn et al., 2016). In fact, a growing body of research suggests that exposure to THC prenatally may lead to subtle long-term effects in cognition, including impairments in attention, memory, and executive function as well as impulsivity in children, adolescents, and young adults (Grant, Petroff, Isoherranen, Stella, & Burbacher, 2018; Sharapova et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2016). Researchers and health practitioners have thus concluded that it is important to educate the public about the impact of cannabis, even medical cannabis, on pregnancy (Chasnoff, 2017).