Moms Choosing Bud over Booze

If you’re a mom and you use social media, you’ve taken notice of how normalized it has become to promote alcohol use as a “solution” to the trials and tribulations of modern parenting.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become tributes to the so-called power of a bottle of wine after a difficult day. Memes that show head-sized wine glasses as the “responsible” approach to drinking are shared as often as parenting advice.

Undoubtedly, if you’re a cannabis-using mother, you’ve also noticed the double-standard surrounding cannabis use versus alcohol. Smoking weed earns you the stain of being a “horrible parent,” while alcohol use, and a lot of the time, abuse, is glamourized.

Harm Reduction

When Canndora’s team of cannabis writers spoke to mothers who toke, we weren’t surprised to find that the majority of them agreed that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol. They all expressed concern over alcohol being normalized as a part of parenting, yet cannabis still being associated with illegal activity and illicit behaviour.

Here are a few other insights Canndora found out when speaking with mothers who use marijuana.

Cannabis and Parenthood

When asked about how cannabis influenced their parenting, and how they deal with postpartum or the stress as a parent, they disclosed that cannabis is a useful tool to help them reflect on themselves as a person, and how they are parenting their children.

Most do not use cannabis when their children are awake and used cannabis as their “go to” substance over alcohol, believing it to be a safer alternative. One revealed that cannabis helped her reset after a stressful day, and that it allowed her to be insightful about her interactions with her kids.

Stone(d) Cold Facts

When compared to alcohol use, which is well-researched, the statistics are shocking. In the US, 88,000 people die each year from excessive alcohol use, and 1 in 10 working adults (i.e. many of today’s current parents) will have alcohol be their cause of death. Binge drinking is becoming an increasing problem among all ages and demographics. Alcohol is responsible for other problems including motor vehicle accidents, chronic disease, violence, and perhaps most tragically, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

To mothers who pick up the bud rather than the bottle, it becomes a real head-scratcher to see others so willingly becoming the poster-children for alcohol when it’s proving time and time again to be so harmful.

Cannabis in Pregnancy

While not drinking while pregnant is a generally accepted rule, women are turning to cannabis during gestation as an alternative to harmful medications to deal with pregnancy’s effects on the body.

Expectant mothers with morning sickness are trading their over-the-counter and prescription medications for nausea control in for a cannabis edible or tincture. One mother Canndora spoke to admitted that because of nausea, she had difficulty eating enough for her baby to get the proper nutrients and used low doses of appetite-stimulating cannabis strains to help her more palpably ingest her meals and snacks.

Another mother who had chronic pregnancy-related pain didn’t feel quite right about popping Tylenol three-times a day. Considering a switch to cannabis, she wanted to be informed. She found an overwhelming lack of research on cannabis and pregnancy and found that some research citing cannabis as harmful to mothers was misleading, as they lumped cannabis smokers in with cigarette smokers for the study.

She began to ask some friends who had used cannabis during pregnancy about their experiences, with a particular focus on their children’s development. As a result of her conversations, and witnessing their children to be healthy and well-developed, she decided to trade in her pill bottle for low-dose edibles to manage her pain more effectively. She proudly reports that her baby is healthy, happy, and developing at above-average rates.*Please note that although Canndora’s writing staff is filled with smart cookies, we’re definitely not doctors. Always consult your physician before consuming cannabis or any other medicine or substance during pregnancy.

A Way Forward for Cannabis Moms

Marijuana moms’ not only play an important role in the destigmatization of cannabis use during pregnancy and parenthood, but they also play a role in highlighting the dangers of glamorizing alcohol.

While any substance should be used in moderation, cannabis mommies can use global legalization efforts as a time to “come out green” and spread more information about cannabis as a safer alternative to alcohol as well as the role cannabis can play in the life of a mom.

Anne-Marie Fischer Moodie is a freelance cannabis writer and educator dedicated to cultivating and disseminating important knowledge about cannabis as legalization spreads across the globe. After spending most of her career in academic and research settings, Anne-Marie and her husband moved to Tamarindo, Costa Rica and open a tattoo shop called The Drifter’s Ink while she explored the prospect of full-time writing. By consistently working with clients in the cannabis industry for their professional writing needs, Anne-Marie found a natural connection between her unique skill set and the needs of the cannabis industry. Now, CannaWrite is a freelance professional writing company that seeks to employ and empower other female writers in helping the world’s best cannabis companies.