Infants exposed to cannabis in utero (before birth) are no more likely to require emergency department care or suffer from developmental delays than unexposed children, according to data published in the journal Academic Paediatrics. Investigators in North Carolina, United States, examined the relationship between in utero cannabis exposure and infants’ health care utilisation and developmental outcomes.
“Compared to those unexposed, … children who were exposed to cannabis in utero have similar WCC [well child care] attendance and ED [emergency department] use over the first 2 years and similar developmental outcomes at 3 years”, researchers reported.
The authors acknowledged that their results were consistent with those of other studies, finding no differences in ED visits or developmental delays among cannabis-exposed and cannabis-unexposed children. Although many studies have associated in utero cannabis exposure with low birth weight, longitudinal studies following in utero exposed infants to adulthood have generally failed to identify “any long-term or long lasting meaningful differences” in their neurodevelopment.
6 February, 2026