Marijuana vs. Tobacco: What Science Says About Lighting Up

B00Mer

Keep Calm and Carry On
Sep 6, 2008
44,800
7,297
113
Rent Free in Your Head
www.getafteritmedia.com
Marijuana vs. Tobacco: What Science Says About Lighting Up



As more states make it legal to smoke marijuana, some government officials, researchers and others worry what that might mean for one of the country’s biggest public health successes : curbing cigarette smoking.

Though there are notable differences in health research findings on tobacco and marijuana, the juxtaposition strikes some as jarring after generations of Americans have gotten the message that smoking endangers their health.

“We’re trying to stop people from smoking all kinds of things. Why do you want to legalize marijuana?” a New York City councilman, Republican Peter Koo, asked at a recent city hearing about the state’s potential legalization of so-called recreational pot use.

Marijuana advocates say there’s no comparison between joints and tobacco cigarettes. A sweeping federal assessment of marijuana research found the lung-health risks of smoking weed appear “relatively small” and “far lower than those of smoking tobacco,” the top cause of preventable death in the U.S.

Unlike for cigarettes, there’s evidence of certain health benefits from marijuana, such as easing chronic pain. And marijuana can be used without smoking it. Most states now have legal medical pot programs; 10 states and the District of Columbia have approved recreational use.

“They’re different products, and they need to be treated differently,” says Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project.

At the same time, studies have shown crossover between marijuana and tobacco use. And while smoking cannabis may be less dangerous than tobacco to lung health, pot doesn’t get an entirely clean slate.

Some health officials and anti-smoking activists also worry about inserting legal marijuana into the growing world of vaping, given uncertainties about the smoking alternative’s long-term effects.

Here’s a look at the issues, science and perspectives:

SMOKING POT VS. TOBACCO

While cigarette smoking is the top risk factor for lung cancer, some of scientific evidence suggests there’s no link between marijuana smoking and lung cancer. That’s according to a 2017 federal report that rounded up nearly two decades of studies on marijuana, research that’s been limited by the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a controlled substance like heroin.

While cigarette smoking is a major cause of heart disease, the report concluded it’s unclear whether marijuana use is associated with heart attacks or strokes.

But there’s strong evidence linking long-term cannabis smoking to worse coughs and more frequent bouts of chronic bronchitis, according to the report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

The report also looked at other effects, finding a mix of possible risks, upsides and unknowns. For example, the report said marijuana can ease chemotherapy-related nausea and adults’ chronic pain but also found evidence the drug is linked to developing schizophrenia and getting in traffic crashes.

In recent weeks, studies have echoed concerns about high-potency pot and psychosisand documented a rise in marijuana-related emergency room visits after legalization in Colorado.

Tobacco and marijuana use can also go together. Blunts — marijuana in a cigar wrapper that includes tobacco leaves — have gained popularity. And studies have found more cigarette smokers have used pot, and the other way around, compared to nonsmokers.

“One substance reinforces the use of the other, and vice versa, which can escalate a path to addiction,” says Dr. Sterling McPherson, a University of Washington medical professor studying marijuana and tobacco use among teens.

The National Academies report found pot use likely increases the risk of dependence on other substances, including tobacco.

To some public health officials, it makes sense to legalize marijuana and put some guardrails around it.

“For tobacco, we know that it’s inherently dangerous and that there is no safe amount of tobacco to use,” says New York City Health Department drug policy analyst Rebecca Giglio. Whereas with marijuana, “we see this as an opportunity to address the harms of criminalization while also regulating cannabis.”

But health department opinions vary, even within the same state: New York’s Association of County Health Officials opposes legalizing recreational weed.

WHAT ABOUT VAPING?

Vaping — heating a solution into a vapor and inhaling it — has been pitched as a safer alternative to smoking.

Experts have said vaping pot is probably less harmful to the lungs than smoking it, though there’s little research on the health effects over time, and they worry about its potency when vaped.

The American Lung Association is concerned that vaping will ultimately prove damaging to lung health and is alarmed about a surge in underage e-cigarette use. And adding legal marijuana to the picture “only makes it a more complicated issue,” says Erika Sward, an assistant vice president.

Others, though, think policymakers should view vaping as a relatively safe way to use pot.

“I would say the risks are going to be less with that form of consumption,” says Rebecca Haffajee, a University of Michigan health policy professor who co-wrote a 2017 piece calling for recreational marijuana programs to allow only nonsmokable forms of the drug.

Meanwhile, some local governments have adjusted public smoking bans to cover both vaping and pot. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors tweaked its prohibition just last month.

TWO VIEWS

As a former cigarette smoker, New Yorker Gary Smith is dismayed that his home state might OK smoking pot.

He knows research hasn’t tied smoking marijuana to lung cancer, which killed three cigarette smokers in his family and struck him 20 years after he quit; he’s been treated. But he fears the respiratory risks of marijuana smoking aren’t fully known.

“It’s crazy that the government, in order to raise (revenue from) taxes, they’re permitting people to suck this stuff into your lungs,” says Smith, 78, an accountant from Island Park.

Hawaii physician and state Rep. Richard Creagan feels no less strongly about cigarettes. The ex-smoker and Democrat from Naalehu this year unsuccessfully proposed all but banning them by raising the legal age to 100.

Meanwhile, he’d like Hawaii to legalize recreational marijuana, an idea that fizzled in the state Legislature this year.

Creagan, 73, thinks pot benefits people’s well-being more than it risks their health, and he expects non-smoking alternatives will reduce the risks. Plus, he figures legal marijuana could replace cigarette tax revenue someday.

“That coupling,” he says, “was sort of in my head.”

https://ktla.com/2019/04/07/marijuana-vs-tobacco-what-science-says-about-lighting-up/
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
41,030
43
48
Red Deer AB
Magic mushrooms and Peyote like goodies, only available at the 'Rez Store and Spa'.
Hemp is the product that is worth 100 times what 'pot' is worth. 'Pot' is what 'runts' in the hemp fields are.
 

Never

Himmelreich
Apr 3, 2019
119
0
16
Sverige
Magic mushrooms and Peyote like goodies, only available at the 'Rez Store and Spa'.
Hemp is the product that is worth 100 times what 'pot' is worth. 'Pot' is what 'runts' in the hemp fields are.

Legal with marijuana in medicine the objective. :smile:
 

Wise

Electoral Member
Mar 3, 2019
273
22
18
“One substance reinforces the use of the other, and vice versa, which can escalate a path to addiction,” - yeah, that's true. People end up smoking both marijuana and tobacco. And then, maybe try cocaine and crack. There needs to be strength of will power to actually not be addicted. So many people get addicted and wish they didn't get addicted.


See interesting marijuana Canada statistics here:
http://www.igorbnews.com/marijuana.html
 

keilecpod

New Member
Feb 2, 2021
2
0
1
I was smoking cigarettes in the past and now I am vaping. I have noticed the differences between smoking and vaping. I have noticed that his breath is easier and you don't have this horrible smell of cigarettes on you. Also, I was smoking weed time at a time. After I traveled to the Netherlands, I am not smoking weed anymore but vaping. I was shocked when I found that there is liquid with THC for vape and you can vape it and have the same effect. Also, I bought a lot of weed accessories from the Netherlands. I bought them as a memory of this country.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,736
7,718
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
My girlfriend smokes Marijuana and I don’t. We live in the same household & it works.

I don’t believe smoking tobacco or marijuana is good for you, & we both smoke tobacco. She has taken a leap past just smoking marijuana though & the results are interesting. She’s onto something with some surprising outcomes.

She makes her own oil from marijuana for baking & makes many different items with this from brownies to cookies to gummy bear candies and putting the oil into capsules to putting this oil into rollerball applicators for topical use….& is experimenting with making topical creams.

Until the last couple years I thought marijuana use in adults was simply adults that hadn’t grown out of is use in adulthood….& still have that opinion with smoking it, but…. The edible and topical use of THC/CBD’s…. That has really open my eyes to its medicinal uses, especially its use topically for localize pain relief. From someone with zero acquired tolerance to THC/CBD’s….topical use in a concentrated oil form works & works quickly without the mind altering effects.

There’s also two different senior citizens (both men in their late sixties, both who had been on prescription Codeine for many years for back issues) who where able to drop Codeine eventually by using her capsules (& both where Waaaay less grumpy and irritable after Codeine).

Another interesting story about someone with a painful rash (for 25yrs) on their feet that tried using the oil topically for pain relief and not only did it help with the pain but the rash went away (didn’t see that coming). Same person then started applying it to Plaque Psoriasis on her elbow & that cleared up also (didn’t see that coming also & don’t know anyone else with the same ailment to test the result independently).

These are not medical claims but more as interesting side effects that make one wonder just what Hell happened here? There’s more that meets the eye and in 25 years it’ll be interesting reading about some “Medical Breakthrough’s” tested under clinical settings with control groups, etc…that we’re seeing now accidentally as she is just try’s to help family & friends as we’re all not getting any younger.
 
  • Like
Reactions: taxslave