INTRODUCTION The prevalence of recreational drug abuse among young adults, including women, has increased markedly over the last 2 decades. Nearly 90 % of these women are of childbearing age. Marijuana remains the drug most commonly used for recreational purposes in pregnancy. However, there appears to be an absence of uniform guidelines for obstetric and anaesthetic management of pregnant pati...

Worldwide, marijuana (cannabis) is a widely used drug. The incidence of marijuana smoking is increasing and is second only to tobacco as the most widely smoked substance in the general population. It is also the second most commonly used recreational drug after alcohol. Some adverse effects of marijuana smoking have been documented; however, the number of studies on the pulmonary effects of mar...

Most Americans are living with state-sanctioned cannabis jurisdiction permitting medicinal, and often, recreational use. Yet, its cannabinoids remain on schedule-I of the controlled substances act (CSA), imposing hurdles to much needed research promulgating outdated ‘War Drugs’ policies their disproportionate impact minorities. Recent advances by current government decriminalize past federal po...

With little fanfare, marijuana became a prohibited substance in 1923. Even though it had been used for sacramental, medicinal and recreational purposes for 10,000 years, when Parliament decided to criminalize marijuana use in 1923, few members of Parliament had even heard of this drug. In fact, in 1923, few Canadians were using it, and until the explosion of the counterculture in the 1960’s, th...

When voters in two US states approved the recreational use of marijuana in 2012, public debates for how best to promote and protect public health and safety started drawing implications from states' medical marijuana laws. However, many of the discussions were simplified to the notion that states either have a medical marijuana law or do not; little reference was made to the fact that legal pro...

Many states have recently made significant changes to their legislation making recreational and/or medical marijuana use by adults legal. Although these laws, for the most part, have not targeted the adolescent population, they have created an environment in which marijuana increasingly is seen as acceptable, safe, and therapeutic. This clinical report offers guidance to the practicing pediatri...

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, but little is known about its effects on the human brain, particularly on reward/aversion regions implicated in addiction, such as the nucleus accumbens and amygdala. Animal studies show structural changes in brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens after exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, but less is known about cannab...