This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on October 14, 2013.
This issue will surely upset some, intrigue others and scare most. Women are always balancing their choices, the choices they make for themselves and their families. Women are the leaders of the family and make decisions that are in the best interest of their families, never themselves.
Courts have affirmed a women’s right to her body in instances of abortion, so why not marijuana?
Today in our society marijuana is more of a sin than abortion. After all no one ever had their children removed for having an abortion.
Take the 2012 case of a 29-year-old New Zealand women who plead guilty to delivering marijuana (through her breast milk) to a person under the age of 18 years (her infant daughter).
Prosecutors in New Zealand stated that it would be necessary for them to prove that the mother both knew she had cannabis in her system, and that she intended to administer it to the baby. Unfortunately the women pled guilty and the question of legality, never made it before a jury to decide the issue.
The same logic would apply if a women were pregnant and using marijuana, I assume. However the courts are very clear on a woman’s choice of abortion. So I am confused as how the status-quo would view a pregnant mother using medical marijuana and the legality of such action. In Canada, it is estimated that 3% of pregnant women regularly use cannabis during pregnancy. Figures are unknown in America, and drug-use-pregnancy studies are always lumped together with illicit drugs like heroine and cocaine.
Before we judge a woman’s medical use of medical marijuana while pregnant or breast feeding, perhaps we should take a closer look and determine the actual effects of the drug on infants and developing fetuses. Until then maybe it is best to remain quiet, something us women are great at.
no.
Yes a woman can and marijuana has harmed no one ever not even a fetus.