‘A dangerous drug’: Surgeon general warns against marijuana use by pregnant women, youths

Officials cite concerns: Three-fold increase in potency since 1995 and easy access in states that have legalized the drug

By Ariana Eunjung Cha August 29 at 12:44 PM

The U.S. surgeon general raised a national alarm Thursday about the use of marijuana among pregnant women and youths at a time when 33 states and the District of Columbia have broadly legalized the substance’s use in some form.

Citing greater access and increased potency of what’s available on the market, Jerome M. Adams and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the drug “carries more risk than ever” and announced that they would be starting a public awareness campaign on social media about the effect it can have on the developing brain.

The initiative, they said, is funded by President Trump, who donated his full second-quarter presidential salary of $100,000 to the effort. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to his personal fortune but underscores how much of a priority addiction and substance abuse is for the administration, they said.

“We need to be clear: Some states’ laws on marijuana may have changed. But the science has not. And federal law has not,” Azar said.

Azar also put his weight behind efforts to increase marijuana research — which is limited by the fact that there’s only a single institution, a facility at the University of Mississippi, where it can be cultivated for scientific use because of the plant’s status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal law. Azar said that the work should look at both the risks and the potential benefits of marijuana use, and that he had “very constructive” conversations with the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration about how to do this.

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