Business Insider: Marijuana isn’t so bad for your lungs

May 13, 2017

By Eric GoldscheinGlobalPost Writer

A young woman smokes a legal herb called damian as policemen stand nearby prior to marching in support of the legalization of marijuana in Germany during the annual Hemp Parade, or ‘Hanfparade’, on August 7, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup

Frequent marijuana use — be it a joint every day for seven years, or a joint a week for 49 years — has not been shown to harm lung capacity, according the American Medical Association (via Bloomberg).

In fact, the 20-year study conducted by the AMA says that moderate use of pot can improve users' lung function for up to seven years, before causing a slight decrease.

The way marijuana is smoked — taking a hit from a joint or pipe, holding it in, and forcefully releasing it — is what helps improve lung function, allowing regular pot smokers to inhale more air than tobacco smokers or people who smoked nothing at all.

The common perception of marijuana over the years has been that it can't be much better than tobacco, seeing as how smoke is a lung irritant. But even after 10 years of smoking joints, users in the expansive study only saw a less than significant drop in lung health.

The study brought together over 5,000 men and women, making it the largest study of its kind.

This news comes on the heels of a report on fake pot, which has been shown to cause heart attacks in its users. When compared to its synthetic counterpart, or its legal brethren tobacco, marijuana looks increasingly benign.

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