by Evelyn Chagarov

Created on: July 18, 2009

Everyone knows that a mother's drug use can affect conception and cause birth defects, but more and more people are asking whether a father's drug use can affect conception. The answer is a firm and resounding yes.

Studies have shown that when a man uses drugs, it affects his sperm count, and can even cause him to produce deformed sperm. Doctors have even witnessed drugs "piggy-backing" on sperm, and affecting the zygote when the sperm joins with the egg.

For the purpose of this article, I am going to use marijuana as an example. Some would argue that marijuana is the "least dangerous" of all illegal drugs, so it's a good example. Marijuana stores itself in the body's fat cells and the reproductive organs, thereby lowering a man's sperm count. Not only does it lower a man's sperm count, but it can make some sperm deformed. Some sperm can have two heads, two tails, or not have a head. Usually, these sperm never make it to the egg, but if they do, they cause significant genetic abnormalities. A sperm with two heads has double the DNA that a normal sperm would have, and a sperm with no head has no DNA at all. From this, we get things like Kleinfelter's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome.

Even if a drug-using father has "normal" sperm, the drug that he is using can piggy-back on the "normal" sperm and cause damage to the zygote. So, in short, a father's drug can be just as damaging (at least in the beginning) as a mother's drug use.

Now, to move on from the biological aspect of a father's drug use to the moral and environmental aspect. Oftentimes, drugs go hand-in-hand with other high risk behaviors, such as promiscuity. When drugs and sex get involved together, individuals often have unprotected sex. This can lead to sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted or unplanned pregnancies. It also prompts the question of whether or not the mother is using drugs, and whether or not she will quit when she finds out she is pregnant.

So, although drugs lower a man's sperm count, they also lead to other high-risk behaviors, included multiple partners and unprotected sex. All of these factors together substantially raise the chances for a disabled child. Depending on the drug and the amount of the drug, the child can be mildly to profoundly retarded and physically disabled. Not only does a father's drug use affect conception, it also affects the type of conception - whether the conception is normal and healthy, or whether it is an abnormal conception.

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