Teenage Girls Who Smoke Marijuana May Pass Future Addiction to Children

A new study found that moms who used marijuana as teenagers may be putting their children at higher risks for future drug abuse. Researchers conducted their recent study on adolescent female rats at the Neuroscience and Reproductive Biology section with the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

The adolescent rats were given a cannabinoid receptor which has effects like THC, the active marijuana ingredient. The rats were treated for three days and then had no treatments until they mated later on in their adult stage.

A recent article told that male offspring from female rats were then measured against the control group to see if they had a preference for chambers paired with morphine or with saline.

The rats that had exposed mothers with the cannabinoid receptors were much more likely to choose the chamber with morphine than the mothers who refrained from the drug. Results suggested the rodents had a higher preference for opiates.

The lead author of the study, John J. Byrnes said their interest was to determine whether or not substances commonly used in adolescence can bring about behavioral or neurochemical changes which may then influence future generation’s development.

Byrnes notes that while they used rodent models and these might not fully transfer to the human circumstance, the results were certainly noteworthy. The study showed that the drug use of mother rats, even before pregnancy, can in fact affect their future offspring.

Byrnes concluded that further research will be needed before they can make a definitive connection between drug use in female adolescence and the possible effects for their future children.