Pregnancy, Moms, and Marihuana.
Often, women can be treated worse than men for "drug offenses", with addiction, condemnation, and child custody issues paramount with mothers with children. Women are often black-mailed to be quiet about drug issues, and are sometimes controlled and manipulated with drug policy. Human trafficking, organized crime involvement in the sex industry, and drug-trafficking are sometimes associated in the criminal world.
Are recently-pregnant women who tested positive for THC in the hospital being arrested after giving birth?
More Research is Needed.
Joep Ommen, who worked as the Secretariat of of encod.org at that moment, just told me recently in answer to my question by phone, that in Europe, they simply don't arrest women who just gave birth, and who have tested positive for something like marihuana. (At the moment I met Joep by phone, I had called another Encod member in Spain to ask a question about that country's marihuana policy. I didn't know Joep was there in the house at that moment. Encod was meeting at the Spaniard's home by coincidence, right at the moment that I called.) So this one thing may be the best way to point out the differences for future parents between the U.S. and Europe at this moment in world history.
Sadly to say, in terms of punishment and human rights violations of mothers who may have used marihuana (or other drugs) during their pregnancies, and then spent time in a U.S. jail, this seems a bit extreme to me. The use of brute force to incarcerate a mother who just gave birth, would be considered criminal in Europe, I am sure. Why has our media not pointed this out?
Many have erroneously stated that only "welfare mothers" are being treated oddly due to marihuana usage, perhaps during pregnancy. I think this is not absolutely true. I think it is more regional and variable. Policy may also differ corporation to corporation. And men may also be drug tested... who knows?
Bear in mind that mothers may still use tobacco and alcohol (moderately) in many areas, which totally contradicts the moral argument for these policies for cannabis. Is there any medical evidence that should have prompted anyone to suspect that cannabis usage by mothers was harmful to the unborn, in the first place?
- (12 May 2014) Prominent researcher on the subject of marihuana usage by pregnant women reveals that myths presuming this to be harmful to the unborn, are generally false.
- National Advocates for Pregnant Women, section about the drug war and families. That organization is not generally grouped with drug policy reform. ("Drug War": the national highway robbery system.)
- Numerous articles from Cannabis Culture (Canadian) about Pregnancy, Cannabis, and Children.
- On a similar note, Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard is unhappy about the new addition to Massachusett's marihuana laws that most marihuana reform groups have not told you about.
NOTE: Dr. Lester Grinspoon does not approve this law as written. There is a FATAL FLAW in it:
The initiative reduces the penalty for possession of up to 1 ounce of marihuana to a fine of $100, but it actually establishes a new offense. The sponsors should withdraw it and replace it with a more thoughtfully worded version.The new offense is internal possession of marihuana metabolites. Anyone discovered to have any of these metabolites in his (or her) body fluids or hair would be prosecutable.
- Medical Marihuana: A Surprising Solution to Severe Morning Sickness, By Erin Hildebrandt, Mothering, Issue 124 May/June 2004. Mom who had 4 out of 5 of her children, using marihuana for all sorts of things, tells it like it is: click here.
- NORML U.S. search of website for "pregnancy" , which should yield some studies.
(Just what policy is at hospitals may have little or nothing to do with the state legislaure. Who knows? Ask your doctor or other medical caregivers.)
