Is cannabis really as safe as many think? New research finds major red flag

<p>The United Nations reclassified&nbsp;cannabis&nbsp;as a less dangerous drug last year&nbsp;and removed it from&nbsp;the Schedule IV category, which lists addictive opioids like heroin.&nbsp;And while talks of limited legalisation are underway in India, a new study has&nbsp;flagged&nbsp;an alarming&nbsp;danger of using&nbsp;cannabis&nbsp;on a regular basis.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>SEE MORE <a href=https://www.editorji.com/story/un-removes-cannabis-from-most-dangerous-drugs-category-1606999043143>UN removes cannabis from Most Dangerous Drugs category&nbsp;</a></strong></p> <p>Researchers have found that teenagers who use cannabis frequently may be at a higher risk of pre-term birth in their 20s and 30s.</p> <p>Basing the results on repeat assessments of 665 participants in a general population cohort&nbsp;for over 20 years, the&nbsp;study&nbsp;is the first to&nbsp;connect&nbsp;frequent adolescent cannabis use with the potential&nbsp;intergenerational risks.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>As per the&nbsp;research, babies born to parents (aged 29 and over) who used cannabis regularly for a certain period in their teens were 20% more likely to&nbsp;be&nbsp;preterm or have a low birth weight.&nbsp;</p> <p>Although&nbsp;this effect was&nbsp;not observed at lower levels of use, high&nbsp;daily use of cannabis&nbsp;in teen years&nbsp;was associated with a more than six-fold increase in the odds of premature birth.&nbsp;</p> <p>While cannabis use is illegal in India, globally it is one of&nbsp;the most commonly used illicit drugs amongst teenagers. Previous studies have shown how&nbsp;cannabis use increases mental health problems, but the new results, published in&nbsp;Scientific Reports,&nbsp;indicate&nbsp;that&nbsp;the effects of the drug on youngsters may be much worse than we realise.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>SEE MORE <a href=https://www.editorji.com/story/new-research-debunks-the-rumoured-origin-story-of-cannabis-1627877117313>New research debunks the rumoured origin story of Cannabis</a></strong></p>