Oklahoma Is Prosecuting Pregnant Women for Using Medical MarijuanaPosted by On


 Amanda Aguilar with her son Jesse at her home in Newkirk, Okla., in March 2022. Aguilar was charged with felony child neglect for using medical marijuana during her pregnancy to cope with morning sickness. (BRIANNA BAILEY/THE FRONTIER)
Oklahoma medical marijuana licenses are issued on the recommendation of a doctor. The licenses include a warning against using the drug during pregnancy, but the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority said it has no rules prohibiting pregnant people from getting a license or using the drug. (PHOTO COURTESY OF OKLAHOMA MEDICAL MARIJUANA AUTHORITY)

Two district attorneys have targeted mothers with child neglect felonies.

 By Brianna Bailey

NEWKIRK, OKLA. — Early in her pregnancy, Amanda Aguilar struggled with severe nausea that sometimes made it hard to eat. A doctor had previously approved a medical marijuana license for her, so she used pot to ease her morning sickness. This story was produced with the Oklahoma nonprofit newsroom The Frontier. Aguilar, 33, said she stopped using marijuana after her third month of pregnancy and tested negative for the drug after her healthy son was born in October 2020. But the hospital found traces of marijuana in her baby’s stool. Two months later, the district attorney in Aguilar’s mostly rural county near the Kansas border charged her with child neglect, a felony. She has decided to fight the charge, and recently declined to comment on the advice of her public defender. She is one of at least…

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