PotShot

The grass is greener for couples who stop the pot
Will Boggs | TheAge.com | April 2, 2006

THE use of marijuana by either the man or woman before fertility treatment could reduce the likelihood of success, a study suggests.

"If these study findings are confirmed by additional research, we would recommend that physicians tell couples to not use marijuana for at least one year before starting fertility treatment," says Dr Hillary Klonoff-Cohen of the University of California.

With colleagues, she investigated the possible effects of marijuana use on the outcomes of 221 couples who underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) treatment for infertility.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

At least 10 per cent of men and women smoked marijuana in the year before the fertility procedure, the authors report, and 3 per cent of women and 0.5 per cent of men reported smoking marijuana the day before the procedure.

Longer marijuana use over a woman's lifetime reduced the number of eggs that could be retrieved and the number of embryos that could be transferred, the results indicate.

Compared with women who didn't smoke marijuana, the researchers note, women who smoked marijuana during the year before the procedure had 25 per cent fewer eggs and about one less embryos transferred.

Similarly, marijuana smoking by the man during the year before the procedure was associated with about one fewer embryo transferred, the report indicates.

Compared with couples who never smoked marijuana, any lifetime use of marijuana by both partners was associated with a 19 per cent decrease in eggs retrieved.

__________________

Carl Sagan Goodness Richard Dawkins Goodness

reggie_the_dog

are these people who just smoked cannabis, or did they smoke cannabis/tobacco joints like most people in AU, also did they drink alcohol???

Just wondering, because I smoke a bunch of cannabis, but never use alcohol or tobacco....

Buzzby

It's too bad that marijuana isn't a reliable birth-control method. That would be sure to increase its popularity.

__________________

lilgrasshoppah

'm sick of this. Like all prohibitionist rhetoric, it's so basically, fundamentally false, that I don't know where to begin! I guess this is their plan: "we don't have to be right, we just have to be loud"...?

__________________
I got soul, But i'm not a soldier - The Killers

Buzzby

I'm curious. Exactly how do you know it's false? Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that it's not true. I'd say we should be open-minded until more information becomes available.

lilgrasshoppah

'that marijuana is bad, because it leads to infertility.'

This may be correct, or it may not. It bears further review. However, the ancilliary, unstated, reason to say "weed is bad", is so that the prohibition industry can say "weed should stay illegal."

Contrast what the medical community at large would say, if somebody would come out with a study demonstrating that cannibanoids cures cancer...? Or treat the hyper emetic states brought on by certain medications, or help alleviate pain and spacticity of MS.... or even if it was conclusively proven that cannabis made food taste better, improved our perceptions of music, and made colors seem more vibrant...?

This is why this thing is false.

Sec

No where in the article did I read that "Marijuana was bad". If the opposite had been found to be true and marijuana use actually increased the potential for success in fertility treatments, would you have had a different reaction? It is only a fact that is stated. Buzzby is right. You cannot state that something is false just because your opinion is not in agreement with the findings of a study.

If all other factors are equal (tobacco and alcohol use) in both groups, this could be significant information for those MJ smokers who are trying to become pregnant. The article just doesn't give that information. The article begins by saying using MJ causes problems, Then later it says smoking marijuana is the culprit. I wonder if they considered all uses of marijuana including ingesting MJ. (Is it only smoking marijuana or is all marijuana use?)

__________________
Guidelines.
Search
http://www.marijuana.com/drug-test/index

lilgrasshoppah

sec... the writers of this claptrap clearly believe that marijuana smoking causes infertility, and they clearly infer this is a bad thing. Again, it may be true, and it may be untrue... but until they recognize the far more proven good effects of pot (smoked or not), and futher recognize that, even if this correct, this is a medical issue... not a legal issue... then this is, a priori, untrue.

FreeUpJahCure

Its a fertility treatment program so I would believe(somebody correct if im wrong) that the couple wasn't able to successfully have a baby in the first place. I would assume that most couples in the world, even ones that smoke marijuana are fertile and are able to have babies without the need of a fertility program. I personally know many couples who smoke marijuana and have had no problems having a child. I guess they got good genes, who knows and more importantly who cares?

Buzzby

People who are infertile and want to have a child care a lot. People spend their life savings trying to get pregnant. Infertility has ended many marriages.