Research supported by the Toronto Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Consortium (TC3) suggests that infants prenatally exposed to cannabis are more likely to be born preterm, have a low birth weight and require neonatal intensive care than infants without prenatal cannabis exposure.
Published in the journal Addiction, the study pooled the results of 57 prior studies from around the world.
Taking place between 1984 to 2023, those studies collectively included health outcomes of more than 12 million infants, including more than 102,000 infants exposed to cannabis before birth.
“The global increase in cannabis use among women of reproductive age also extends to pregnant women,” says Maryam Sorkhou, a PhD student at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Institute of Medical Science and lead author on the study.
“We know that THC, the main psychoactive constituent in cannabis, can cross the placenta from mother to fetus and bind to receptors in the fetal brain.”
Sorkhou formed part of the inaugural cohort of the TC3 Fellows Program, which provides financial support for interdisciplinary, collaborative cannabis and cannabinoid-related projects in TC3 member research groups across the University of Toronto and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network. She is also a two-time recipient of the TC3 x UTCSP Professional Development Award.
To date, 38 TC3 Fellowships have been awarded to 32 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Their research covers a wide range of topics, including potential therapeutic applications of cannabinoid drugs in various health conditions such as seizures, Alzheimer’s, metabolic dysfunction and pain. They are also researching novel cannabinoid drug formulations and delivery systems, studying cannabis use disorder and tracking the impacts of cannabis legalization on emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
For example, TC3 Fellow Justin Matheson, who earned a PhD from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in 2020 and is now completing a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, is investigating whether naturally occurring cannabis-derived molecules can be used to combat obesity.
Full profiles of the recipients in the 2021/2022 cohort and the 2022/2023 cohort are available on the TC3 website.