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As governments around the world update their policies towards the legality of cannabis,
隨著世界各國政府更新本國對大麻合法化的政策，
that drug's medical and recreational use is spreading.
毒品的藥用和娛樂用途正在擴大。
Many women therefore want to know whether it is safe to take the stuff during pregnancy,
因此很多女性都想知道孕期使用大麻是否安全
and face a dearth of evidence to guide them. The use of cannabis by pregnant women is on the rise.
但卻面臨著缺乏指導證據的窘境。食用大麻的孕婦人數在增長。
A study in a Californian health-care system suggests uptake increased from 2.4% of pregnant mothers in 2002 to 3.9% in 2014.
加利福尼亞醫療系統的一項研究表明孕婦的吸食量從2002年的2.4%增長到了2014年的3.9%。
Other work in Western countries has found rates of between 3% and 16%.
西方國家的其他研究發現，這一比例在3%到16%之間。
Such use is by no means simply recreational. Medical cannabis is employed in many places to control nausea and vomiting,
使用大麻絕不僅僅是娛樂性質的。很多地方都使用藥用大麻來控制惡心和嘔吐，
so pregnant women have turned to it to treat morning sickness.
所以孕婦選擇大麻來治療晨吐。
Some groups would like to promote the use of cannabis during pregnancy as safe and beneficial.
一些組織希望將孕期使用大麻推銷成一種安全有益的方式。
CannaMommy, a website which supports a mother's right to choose "plants over pills" during pregnancy,
CannaMommy網站支持母親在孕期選擇“植物代替藥物”的權利，
thinks mothers-to-be should be able to decide how they medicate themselves.
該網站認為準媽媽們應該能夠決定如何給自己用藥。
A banner across one video on the site says, "Fact: Cannabis is safer than pharmaceuticals".
網站上一個視頻的橫幅上寫著：“事實：大麻比藥物更安全”。
It isn't a fact, however. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
但這并非事實。證據缺失并不等于沒有證據。
What evidence there is, moreover, is not encouraging.
此外，現有的證據并不令人鼓舞。
Some studies indicate that using cannabis during pregnancy has long-term consequences for the development of a baby's brain.
一些研究表明在孕期使用大麻會對嬰兒的大腦發育造成長期的影響。
These investigations are observational, not double-blinded clinical trials, so they are not completely conclusive.
這些調查都是觀測性的，并非雙盲臨床試驗，因此它們并不完全是決定性的。
However they suggest prenatal cannabis exposure predisposes people to hyperactivity,
但他們表示產前使用大麻容易讓人亢奮，
impulsivity, loss of attention, psychosis and increased sensitivity to drugs of abuse.
沖動、喪失注意力、精神錯亂且對濫用藥物的敏感性會增加。
A paper published this week in Nature Neuroscience examines these issues more systematically.
本周發表于《Nature Neuroscience》的一篇論文更系統地研究了這些問題。
Miriam Melis of the University of Cagliari, in Monserrato, Italy and her colleagues carried out experiments,
意大利卡利亞里大學的Miriam Melis和她的同事進行了實驗，
albeit on rodents rather than people,
雖然是在老鼠而非人類身上進行，
that looked into the question of prenatal exposure to cannabis by administering the drug's main psychoactive ingredient,
他們通過給懷孕的老鼠注射大麻的主要神經活性成分四氫大麻酚（THC）的方式
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to pregnant rats.
研究產前食用大麻的問題。
THC interacts with the endocannabinoid system, a network of brain cells which communicate with each other using THC like molecules.
THC與內源性大麻素系統相互作用，內源性大麻素系統是一個腦細胞網絡，通過類似THC的分子相互交流。
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