{"id":10656,"date":"2015-03-09T17:14:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T17:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=10656"},"modified":"2017-10-12T13:32:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T13:32:43","slug":"colorados-pot-pregnancies-birthing-new-generation-of-crack-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2015\/03\/colorados-pot-pregnancies-birthing-new-generation-of-crack-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s \u2018Pot Pregnancies\u2019 Birthing New Generation of Crack Babies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 24, 2015 8:30am<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Kerns is a branded contributor to The Blaze and other publications where she writes about the 2nd Amendment, religious liberty, the future of the GOP, limited government battles and other political hot topics. She served as Spokeswoman for the historic Colorado recalls, as Spokeswoman for the California Republican Party, twice as an Appointee of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and as Spokeswoman for Prop. 8 which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u2028\u2028During her career as a GOP strategist, she has been described as one of \u201cthe most relevant Press Secretaries in the West\u201d — winning every major newspaper endorsement for her candidates. Proud of her ability to win over tough liberal reporters and coalitions, she made her mark by being the first known Press Secretary in history (Republican or Democrat) to win 52 unanimous endorsements from such liberal publications as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the Spanish-language La Opinion \u2013 arguably among the toughest Press Corps, in the most populous State in the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

What a long, strange trip it\u2019s been for\u00a0pot legalization<\/a>\u00a0in Colorado. First, the law came under fire last year for not protecting youth as scores of children were taken to emergency rooms<\/a>\u00a0after ingesting their parents\u2019 pot\u00a0edibles<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a few days ago,\u00a0nine<\/a>\u00a0former heads of the\u00a0Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 both Republican and Democrat \u2014 signed onto an\u00a0amicus brief<\/a>\u00a0urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Colorado\u2019s legalization of marijuana citing numerous\u00a0public safety<\/a>\u00a0concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Colorado health professionals are coming forward to report an emerging trend: expectant mothers who are addicted to pot.<\/span><\/p>\n

The emerging health crisis is creating what is undoubtedly our generation\u2019s version of 1980s\u00a0\u201ccrack babies.\u201d<\/a> Health practitioners specializing in the field of Obstetrics & Gynecology spoke to me on condition of anonymity to report an alarming rise in pregnant patients showing up in emergency rooms and doctors\u2019 offices and presenting mysterious complications including abdominal pains, cold sweats, shakiness, insomnia, weight loss and a host of psychological problems. According to the physicians, as routine pot smokers cease consumption of marijuana upon learning they are pregnant, it can lead to violent or painful withdrawal from\u00a0tetrahydrocannabinol<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 also known as THC \u2014 the addictive substance found in marijuana.<\/span><\/p>\n

The emerging situation is not unlike babies who are addicted to crack.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Physicians say the exact cause and treatment of symptoms are initially difficult to pinpoint as patients either don\u2019t admit to prior pot use, or aren\u2019t aware that weeks-old or even months-old marijuana consumption can\u00a0remain in the body<\/a>\u00a0and cause such withdrawals, thus affecting children in the womb.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the physicians in Colorado commend pot users for refraining from the use of marijuana during pregnancy, they regret to inform the patient that it is the first step in a potentially long battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0Cleveland Clinic<\/a>, the presence of THC in foetuses can lead to\u00a0impairment of foetus growth and low birth weight<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0March of Dimes<\/a>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that the presence of marijuana can lead to premature birth. It can also create problems with brain development which may later affect a child\u2019s \u201cbehavior, memory, problem-solving skills and ability to pay attention.\u201d It can also create neonatal abstinence syndrome, in which a baby gets addicted to a drug before birth \u201cthen goes through withdrawal after birth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to treat symptoms as well as help alleviate the pain of the withdrawal process, the physicians in Colorado report they have had to reintroduce doses of THC to expectant mothers, which of course leaves their babies susceptible to addiction and the complications above which often must be treated in neonatal units. The emerging situation is not unlike babies who are addicted to crack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cases of THC addictions during pregnancy are so much on the rise that Colorado\u2019s health professionals have begun to bone up on the subject matter of THC and other complications from pot.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a recent three-day nursing conference, Colorado OB-GYN nurses spent the entire final day of the conference covering THC-related topics. All of this presents new challenges for Colorado which is already\u00a0struggling<\/a>\u00a0to keep up with demands placed upon the state by Obamacare.<\/span><\/p>\n

And now that\u00a0another state\u00a0<\/a>has legalized pot, these cases could become an epidemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

These gestations, which I call \u201cpot pregnancies,\u201d are yet another chapter in a legalization experiment that has gone horribly awry at an expense to public health and to children \u2014 both born and unborn \u2014 who have no say in the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the\u00a0Colorado legislature<\/a>\u00a0rushes to fix<\/a>\u00a0many side effects of legalization one has to ask, \u201cDoes the benefit<\/a>\u00a0of legalizing this substance outweigh the risk to public health?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who suggest it does are simply blowing smoke.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.theblaze.com\/<\/a> 24th<\/sup> Feb. 2015<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feb. 24, 2015 8:30am Jennifer Kerns is a branded contributor to The Blaze and other publications where she writes about the 2nd Amendment, religious liberty, the future of the GOP, limited government battles and other political hot topics. She served as Spokeswoman for the historic Colorado recalls, as Spokeswoman for the California Republican Party, twice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,11,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-drug-use-effects-on-foetus","category-effects-of-drugs","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}