Pregnant Mothers Cannot be Charged With Child Neglect if They use Medical Marijuana

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Medical marijuana is legal in the state of Oklahoma, but now the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled pregnant women with medical cards can’t be charged with child neglect if they choose to use marijuana.

THC are chemicals that are stored in your body fat and will stay there for a long time when using medical marijuana in any form.

But despite the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruling the State Department of Health advises pregnant women to stay away from any form of marijuana while pregnant and so do other professionals.

“Some of the biggest concerns are that the unborn fetus can be at risk for what we call fetal growth restriction or the baby not growing as well as he or she should be. I would recommend against any marijuana use in pregnancy,” said Hillcrest Medical Center OBGYN, Lauren Holmes.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals says that pregnant women who use marijuana under their medical marijuana card will not be prosecuted for child neglect.

However, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health and an OBGYN at the Hillcrest Medical Center, using medical marijuana can cause several factors for the unborn fetus.

“Decrease oxygenation, not being able to tolerate the pregnancy or labor as well as worst case scenario, stillbirth. Other concerns of medical marijuana in pregnancy include maternal risk for, what we call distancia hypertension, or increased blood pressure due to the pregnancy,” said Holmes.

Dr. Holmes says expectant mothers who use medical marijuana could also affect the fetus into childhood with autism and cognitive development issues.

She adds a mother could have placenta abruption and lose the baby by using medical marijuana.

One district attorney I talked to says his sheriff’s department has been notified of this and will comply with the ruling.

The most important thing to him is taking care of unborn children.

“One of the things I noticed from the case was that the Court of Criminal Appeals has asked the legislature to review their case and possibly present legislation as a result of that case. So there could be additional legislation going forward what could be problems with individuals that use marijuana while pregnant,” said Wagoner County District Attorney, Jack Thorp.

The OBGYN that I spoke says she advises every one of her patients to not use marijuana in any circumstance because it could cause harm to you or your baby.

In short-term cases or long-term cases.