Can smoking marijuana be good for you?
When the good people of the state of Florida voted to expand their medical marijuana program to actually include marijuana there was no question in anyone’s mind at the time that this included smokable forms of marijuana — eg. dried flower (aka bud), hashish, rosin, and cannabis oil. However, when lawmakers got their hands on the constitutional amendment (no less), they decided that they know better than the majority of their constituents and that it was their job to protect the public by prohibiting the sale and use of smokable forms of marijuana because, well, smoking is bad for you, right? But is it really?
Before we answer that question, let us point out that the Florida situation actually has a happy ending. Florida attorney, John Morgan, who bankrolled the voter initiative to expand access to medical marijuana took it upon himself to put together a case against the state to overturn the smokables ban. The courts agreed that the intention of the measure was to include smokables as a form of administering medicinal cannabis. So did the incoming governor who insisted that lawmakers regroup on the matter and legalize smokables. They did so in short order by a unanimous vote.
Is smoking marijuana bad for you?
Let’s start out by stating the obvious: all things in moderation. If you’re spending the bulk of your days huffing on a bong or lipping blunts, you’re probably going to mess up your lungs. In fact, there is evidence that excessive pot smoking can cause chronic bronchitis. What there is not is evidence that smoking weed causes lung cancer. In fact, cannabis might even prevent lung cancer.
In the spring of 2005, Donald Tashkin, a professor of pulmonology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine claimed that….