Ask a Stoner: How Much Is Cannabis Use Hurting My Fertility?

Dear Stoner: My mom gives me shit because my longtime boyfriend and I have smoked weed since high school, and she says it’s killing her chance of having grandchildren. Hovering parent aside, is she right? Jen Doe

Dear Jen: A systematic review of National Institutes of Health research published in 2021 concluded that regular cannabis use impaired male sperm count, concentration and motility, morphology and viability. While the report noted that there were plenty of examples where cannabis didn’t affect male hormone production, the side effects were prevalent enough that infertility clinicians are made of aware of them when working with couples.

Research is starting to mount against women who use cannabis in the long term, as well, with a recent University of California, Irvine, study showing that cannabis use in women up to nineteen could increase the chance of depleted ovarian follicles and matured eggs by up to 50 percent. That said, plenty of potheads have children. So live your life, mother hens be damned.

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