Marijuana linked to lower sperm count

New research suggests that marijuana usage may damage sperm count, according to a story in the Daily Mail.  Researcher Omer Raheem compared the findings of marijuana users, former marijuana users, and men who never used marijuana. His results found that, 

[T]hose who had ever used the drug had poorer semen quality than those who hadn’t.

The team saw damage on all fronts – decreased volume, morphology (the shape), and total progressive motile count (how many sperm can actually move).

Men who had smoked marijuana also had higher risks of abnormally shaped sperm, which can hamper its attempts to enter an egg.

Cannabis use is booming both in recreational use and in medical use which is exciting but also reason to be skeptical. The drug is now legal in more than half of the United States for medical use, and nine for recreational use. And yet, science is still racing to catch up with legalization, and the true benefits and down sides are still coming to light.

Cannabis is understudied so a lot of the effects of long-term and heavy usage are unknown in the scientific community. Dr. Raheem think that doctors should use studies such as these to warn their patients about possible "negative' effects".  

-Fernando Lira Gomez