A new report on the health effects of smoking cannabis has found that long-term pot smoking is about as harmful as not flossing. The study, published in the June edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, follows the health of a thousand 18-year-olds who either smoked pot or tobacco over a 20-year time period.
Researchers found that by age 38, those who had smoked pot had poorer gum health than those who smoked tobacco. However, the researchers conclude, “cannabis use was unrelated to other physical health problems.”
“Unlike cannabis use, tobacco use was associated with worse lung function, systemic inflammation, and metabolic health at age 38 years,” they write.
The new study joins a growing stack of recent research that’s found pot smoking to have little to no effect on lung health. But it helps fill a needed gap in research on chronic pot use — an area where the lack of evidence has stalled bills working to legalize marijuana.
Elizabeth Warren Urges CDC To Look At Pot As Potential Fix To Prescription Painkiller EpidemicHealth by CREDIT: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite American political leaders around the country are casting about for a…thinkprogress.orgMeanwhile, people who smoke legal forms of synthetic marijuana in lieu of the real drug have been victim to a slew of serious chronic side-effects, including long-term delusions, seizures, heart attacks, strokes, and death. A 2013 report found that 93 percent of people who smoke synthetic marijuana would rather be smoking the real, seemingly safer, substance.
This study, however, did nothing to measure changes in a smoker’s mental health. Past studies have found considerable IQ loss paired to chronic pot smoking — but these results have been repeatedly debunked by cognitive scientists.