Is there a HIGH price on getting DOWN?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
As cannabis use GROWS, how might it impact women’s fertility?
Enter Cyntia Duval and team at the University of Toronto.
They’re studying how cannabis affects egg cell development, looking at oocytes. These are unfertilized cells that develop into the mature eggs released during ovulation.
Oocytes in a dish were exposed to THC, which is what makes people “high”. This lowered levels of genes important for cell division, used by cells to copy themselves! As a result, ninety-two percent of oocytes had broken cell division machinery after THC.
We know cannabis affects memory and mood, but now reproductive problems too?!
Oof, that’s a STICKY situation.
Reference: Duval, C., Wyse, B.A., Fuchs Weizman, N. et al. Cannabis impacts female fertility as evidenced by an in vitro investigation and a case-control study. Nat Commun 16, 8185 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63011-2