The other thing to consider is that alcohol directly crosses the blood barrier, but goes through the mother's system very quickly. The THC in marijuana, on the other hand, is processed differently - the effect of active THC may only last for hours (like alcohol), but residual THC is stored in the fat cells and takes several months to be fully processed, and it is unknown what the effect of this might be to the foetus. It is suggested that regular pot smokers cut back or quit several months before TTC if they want to ensure that there is no residual THC in their system, although it should be stressed that the effect of this on the foetus (if any) is unknown. It is also why smoking pot whilst breastfeeding is not recommended.
If she doesn't want to, or is unable to quit using pot, then there are some ways to make it potentially less impactful: obtaining bush grown organic pot rather than hydroponically grown (which is significantly higher in THC and may use any number of chemicals in its production, both for pesticides and to enhance the effect), eating pot (eg: in cakes or biscuits) rather than smoking, smoking joints rather than bongs, not using tobacco in the mix: all these things may reduce the potential harmfulness.
Last edited by suse; April 21st, 2009 at 01:04 PM.
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