JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(7):762-764. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0076

Mirroring increases in the general population, the prevalence of past-month marijuana use among pregnant mothers in the United States increased by 75% between 2002 (2.85%) and 2016 (4.98%).¹ Although cannabis use has been linked to psychosis, little is known about prenatal exposure.^2,3 Unprecedented increases in marijuana use during pregnancy, alongside evidence that cannabis use is correlated with psychosis and that endocannabinoids play an important role in neurodevelopment, highlight the importance of evaluating potential long-term consequences of prenatal exposure.⁴

Thus, prenatal cannabis exposure may be associated with later psychosis proneness in offspring. Only when there is sufficient fetal endocannabinoid type 1 receptor expression, which may not occur until after many mothers learn they are pregnant. In the context of increasing cannabis accessibility and potency, perceptions of safety, and the potential use of cannabis to combat pregnancy-related nausea, these data suggest that cannabis use by pregnant women should be discouraged until more is known.

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