Despite these health concerns, the majority of American adults, even those with children, still do not smoke or vape marijuana, or consume side-effects from a joint, according to an August 2023 study. Believe that smoke inhalation is safer than cigarette smoke.

it’s not.

“Being in an enclosed space with someone who smokes marijuana can result in a positive urine marijuana test. You may also experience other physical effects of marijuana, such as increased heart rate and feeling ‘high.’ “It’s possible,” said Carol Boyd, founding director of the Center for Drug, Alcohol, Smoking, and Health Research at the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor told CNN in an earlier interview.

It’s not just your lungs that are at risk. A January 2021 study found that people who smoked only marijuana had higher levels of several smoke-related toxins in their blood and urine than non-smokers. These toxins are linked to anemia, liver and nerve damage, cancer, and other health problems.

There’s more. According to a 2022 study, cannabis users are nearly 25% more likely to require emergency treatment or hospitalization, and excessive use of marijuana can lead to complications during surgery. Cannabis users have more heavy metals in their bodies. A 2023 study found that serious traffic accidents are on the rise in areas where marijuana is legal.

The potency of cannabis is rapidly increasing, potentially increasing health risks, and leading to a worldwide increase in marijuana addiction and marijuana use disorder.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “about 3 in 10 marijuana users suffer from marijuana use disorder.” Experts say the condition increases the risk of mental disorders, cognitive impairment, use of psychiatric services and violent behavior.

Effects of cannabis on infants and adolescents

Marijuana use during pregnancy is thought to be associated with low birth weight, one of the strongest predictors of a child’s long-term health.

A 2023 study found, for example, that babies born to mothers who smoked marijuana or ate edibles to suppress nausea were twice as likely to be born prematurely and to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit. It was 2.5 times higher. Equally alarming: A 2020 study found that children born to marijuana users had more psychotic-like behaviors, more attention, social and sleep problems, and weaker cognitive abilities. .

It is also not good for older children. Experts say the rise in marijuana use among adolescents is extremely worrying because marijuana is known to damage the developing brain.

“The teenage brain is actively developing and continues to develop until about age 25,” the CDC says on its website. Use during that time can have lasting effects, including damage to learning, memory, problem-solving ability and attention, the CDC said.

“This is devastating to the teenage brain and should be used with extreme caution or not at all,” says Peter Grinspoon, a cannabis expert and primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. says the doctor. A cannabis specialist uncovers the truth about marijuana. ”

According to the CDC, young people who use marijuana are more likely to develop long-term mental illnesses, such as depression, social anxiety, and schizophrenia, and to drop out of school. Research shows that excessive marijuana use by youth with mood disorders leads to increased self-harm, suicide attempts, and death.

Daily use by adolescents and adults can result in: Another unpleasant side effect is uncontrollable vomiting, according to a 2021 study.

“They just vomit and keep vomiting whatever’s in their stomach, which can last for hours,” said study author Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist and toxicologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He previously told CNN.

Despite these concerns, twice as many school-age children smoked marijuana in 2020 as in 2013. In fact, some parents have told doctors that smoking marijuana is safer than cigarettes, Boyd earlier told CNN via email.

“You seem to believe that heating chemicals (including carcinogens) into vapor and inhaling it is good for your health? My answer is, ‘No, that’s not a healthy behavior.’ is.”

In addition to harming your lungs, smoking marijuana has been linked to a recently identified dangerous lung disease called EVALI (short for e-cigarette or vaping). Lung injury related to product use. By early 2020, the CDC recorded more than 2,800 hospitalizations and 68 deaths from the disease, according to Yale Medicine.

Research shows that weed has several medicinal properties. An August 2023 literature review found that cannabidiol (CBD) reduces seizures in epilepsy. Additionally, while some cannabinoid mixtures may have benefits for multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy-induced nausea, chronic pain, and inflammatory bowel disease, they are “not without adverse effects.”

These “adverse effects” may actually be smaller than the effects of traditional drug treatments, Grinspoon says. He serves on the board of Physicians for Drug Policy Reform, an advocacy group that focuses on cannabis, psychedelics, and drug regulation in general.

“People are consuming cannabis to replace more dangerous drugs like opioids and benzodiazepines (medications used for anxiety and seizures) that are addictive and have severe side effects,” he says. “People can also reduce their intake of nonsteroidal drugs, but they are not without harm.”

However, there is a caveat to this rosy view. The University of Colorado’s Page said the study could use refined synthetic cannabis, which is very different from the cannabis purchased on the street.

“Even store-bought items may not be what they seem,” Page says. “Regulatory agencies keep an eye on adulteration and things like that, but in terms of knowing exactly how much CBD or THC is in a commercial product, it’s not really regulated in most cases.”

There is another point. Many people may use medicated edibles when they need long-term pain relief and take a puff when they need immediate pain relief, Grinspoon said. Eating marijuana or using tinctures can help you avoid harm to your lungs. Unfortunately, there is little research on the benefits and harms of using edibles and other options.

There are reasons why research is not progressing. Experts told CNN that studies dating back to the 1950s are typically only approved for funding if they examine the downsides of marijuana use.

At the federal level, cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I substance, the highest level of drug control. Researchers still must go through red tape to obtain approval from various federal, state, and local agencies before beginning research.

“Especially during and after the Nixon administration, researchers could only get funding if they focused on negative impacts,” Boyd said. “Each new generation of researchers followed in the footsteps of their leaders and focused on negative health effects.”

Another hurdle was gaining legal access to marijuana for research. For more than 50 years, the federal government has only allowed the University of Mississippi to grow marijuana for research purposes. Supply couldn’t keep up with demand. It took until 2021 before the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began searching for additional facilities to grow the plant for scientific use.

The statewide legalization of recreational cannabis over the past decade has opened new avenues of scientific investigation. In observational studies, researchers ask people questions about their cannabis use and can expect mostly truthful answers. Scientists can now cross-reference reported marijuana use with insurance, medical, and safety data to see how it affects the body over time.

“There have been 4,000 studies on cannabis in the last two years. That’s a huge amount of research,” Grinspoon said. “I think it’s more neutral and coming not just from the cannabis industry, but from independent think tanks and academia.

“I think things have gotten a lot better now that it’s out of the shadows and people can honestly go to the doctor when they need help,” he added. “Before, if you were in the ER and you were vomiting, you couldn’t say, ‘I’ve been using marijuana.'”

Still, for now, the data remains intact, Page said.

“Although there is no data to support the benefits of recreational marijuana use, there is data to support the use of cannabis for some medical purposes.”