Grant: Project Grant

With the legalization of cannabis in Canada in 2018, public perceptions of cannabis as safe and medically useful even while pregnant has risen, despite growing evidence that it is related to serious infant health outcomes like preterm birth, low birthweight and requiring admission to Neonatal Intensive Care. There is also evidence to suggest cannabis use in pregnancy can lead to neurological issues in the child, however, the types and extent of these issues remains unknown. Most studies on the neuro-developmental impacts of cannabis use in pregnancy were conducted decades ago, when cannabis was a fraction of the strength of products available to Canadians today. As a result, we have an incomplete picture of the safety of cannabis use in pregnancy, and may be drastically underestimating the harms that could be caused by cannabis use in pregnancy to Canadian children. Our study plans to recruit over 8000 pregnant Canadians, and follow them along with their infants up to age 3. We will measure infant health and development, conduct detailed psychological assessments, and get detailed MRI images of their brains to determine if and how cannabis in pregnancy might impact brain growth and development. We will be measuring these variables in greater detail than previous studies using methods that will overcome the biggest limitations of the current evidence, providing an urgently needed view of how cannabis is impacting the brain health of Canadian children. This study answers the urgent call from Canadian and United States governments for much needed, high-quality evidence of the maternal and infant health risks associated with cannabis use in pregnancy. Our results will inform new policy and public health measures to mitigate possible health risks, inform interventions to best support affected children, and empower Canadians to make informed choices during pregnancy.