Idle speculation - cannabis for labour?

[Spudulika]

Not pregnant myself but have been mulling over whether smoking a spliff would help in labour. Do remember thinking about it when I was pregnant with ds (who's now 5) but feeling defeated by the effort and worry involved with getting hold of some, as don't know anyone who sells it.

So - your thoughts?

The only info I can find at the moment is from a cannabis medical dictionary which says:

"And marijuana is historically reported to ease the pain of childbirth by relaxing uterine contractions. Prior to 1970, when America became subject to a sharp increase of anti-marijuana propaganda, the effects of cannabis during labor were openly discussed in the Journal of the American Medical Association:

The sensation of pain is distinctly lessened or entirely absent and the sense of touch is less acute than normally. Hence a woman in labor may have a more or less painless labor. If a sufficient amount of the drug is taken, the patient may fall into a tranquil sleep from which she will awaken refreshed. As far as is known, a baby born of a mother intoxicated with cannabis will not be abnormal in anyway.[i]"

My way of thinking is that if it's a toss up between cannabis or pethidine, then cannabis (from my very limited reading) would win hands-down if we're thinking about dangerous side effects for mum and baby.

I like the idea of it being a muscle relaxant - wonder if that might help make contractions less painful. Or might it make them less effective? But then pethidine is a fairly powerful muscle relaxant isn't it?

[RubyBuckleberry]

'drugs when prescribed aren't the same beasts as when they are used recreationally'

true. i guess when heroin is prescribed it is under more control and a more 'appropriate' (although personally the fact that it is used is barely appropriate) dose. also it would be weird to ask the midwife to skin you up another joint rather than administer a dose of pethidine but then that must be cultural, surely. and i've no idea about the interaction of cannabis with other drugs although i'm never come across anything that suggests it is particularly volatile substance, although i agree, being mashed and needing a spinal or emcs might be really freaky!

i do think it is a shame that it is not even considered as a viable option given its history (and research is not funded because it would not be a popular move politically) etc etc. it is pretty innocuous as drugs go and generally speaking (not talking about teenagers or the odd bad reaction).

[BeautifulBlondePineapple]

I was a daily user of cannabis for 10 years and found that it was the best thing ever for period pains, so I can imagine that it would help with pain relief during labour.

I haven't smoked for about 10 years now, but if it was properly researched, approved and controlled then I would definitely try it. It's a shame that any research would probably be hampered by politics.