WHY IT MATTERS: Pregnant individuals using cannabis for nausea, anxiety, or pain should know that emerging placental research suggests potential long-term psychiatric risks to their child that current safety guidelines may still be underestimating. CLINICAL OVERVIEW: Emerging research suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure may leave measurable biological signatures in placental tissue that are associated with increased schizophrenia risk in offspring. The placenta acts as a dynamic interface between maternal and fetal environments, and cannabinoids can cross this barrier and influence fetal neurodevelopment during critical windows of brain formation.
Placenta May Hide Early Warning Signs of Schizophrenia Risk – ScienceAlert
WHY IT MATTERS: Pregnant patients currently using cannabis for nausea or anxiety should understand that new preclinical evidence suggests THC exposure may alter placental biology in ways potentially linked to long-term neurodevelopmental risk in their children. CLINICAL OVERVIEW: Emerging preclinical research is examining how prenatal THC exposure may leave biological signatures in placental tissue that correspond to markers associated with schizophrenia risk. The placenta, long underappreciated as a clinically meaningful organ, appears to respond to cannabinoid exposure in ways that could influence fetal neurodevelopment through epigenetic and inflammatory pathways.