Cannabis use has been increasing during pregnancy, according to researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Previous research has observed that past-month cannabis use has more than tripled among pregnant women in the U.S. from 2002-2020 with self-reported cannabis use rising from 1.5 percent to 5.4 percent over the 18 years of tracking data.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a new rule to limit nicotine in cigarettes and certain other tobacco products, like cigars and pipe tobacco, which would be a major step in addressing the public health concerns of smoking and tobacco use in the United States. In the following Q&A, Jonathan Foulds, professor of public health sciences and of psychiatry and behavioral health at the Penn State College of Medicine, discussed the role of research in public policy making and what the science says about the benefits of lowering nicotine levels in tobacco products.