Pot smoking hurts fertility.

• Position: Drug Abuse - Brief Article

Men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, a lower total sperm count, and sperm that behave abnormally, all of which may affect fertility adversely, a study in reproductive physiology at the University of Buffalo (N.Y.) shows.

"The bottom line is, the active ingredients in marijuana are doing something to sperm, and the numbers are in the direction toward infertility," declares Lani J. Burkman, assistant professor of gynecology/obstetrics and urology as well as head of the Section on Andrology in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "We don't know exactly what is happening to change sperm functioning, but we think it is one of two things: THC [tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive chemical in pot] may be causing improper timing of sperm function by direct stimulation, or it may be bypassing natural inhibition mechanisms. Whatever the cause, the sperm are swimming too fast, too early.... The timing [is] all wrong, These sperm will experience...