With cannabis use becoming more common and accepted, many healthcare providers are facing tough questions about its use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. In Perinatal Cannabis Use: Current Evidence, Health Risks, and Clinical Implications, Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett pulls together the latest research to help make sense of a complicated issue. The article looks at what we currently know about the risks to infants, why some women turn to cannabis during the perinatal period, often as a way to manage pain, anxiety, or trauma, and what clinicians can do to support families in a realistic and compassionate way. Rather than a one-size-fits-all message of abstinence, the paper offers harm-reduction strategies and encourages care that meets women where they’re at.
