MARIJUANA EFFECTIVE AGAINST MORNING SICKNESS: STUDY

92% of Pregnant Users Surveyed Report Relief

The controversial use of medicinal marijuana as a weapon against
pregnancy-induced morning sickness has been given a boost in a B.C.
study to be published by a British journal.

While women are traditionally told to avoid drugs and alcohol during
pregnancy, one researcher from each of the Vancouver Island and B.C.
Compassion Societies and the University of B.C. and the University of
Victoria looked to see if pregnant therapeutic users of medical
marijuana reported relief from their nausea and vomiting.

The researchers found that 92 per cent of the women surveyed rated
pot's effect on morning-sickness symptoms as either "very effective"
or "effective."

The study will be published by the Journal of Complementary Therapies
in Clinical Practice, likely in 2006, said Philippe Lucas, co-author
of the report.

"This is the first time that compassion-club-based research will be
published in a peer-reviewed, Elsevier-listed medical journal," said
Lucas, who founded the Vancouver Island Compassion Society.

UBC breastfeeding and marijuana expert Roberta Hewat was reluctant to
comment on the study, but said that two major academic texts say
marijuana use during pregnancy was "contraindicated" because it
suppresses milk production.

Hewat also quoted the 2005 edition of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the
Medical Profession by R.A. and R.M. Lawrence as saying: "Animal
studies have shown that structural changes occur in the brain cells
of newborn animals nursed by mothers whose milk contained cannabis.
Because brain cell development is still taking place in the first
months of life, any remote chance that DNA and RNA metabolism is
altered should be viewed with concern."

Medicinal marijuana use for morning sickness is illegal for all but
therapeutic users approved by Ottawa.