Smoking Marijuana and Cigarettes Linked to Increased Lung Damage – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

New research indicates that smoking both marijuana and cigarettes significantly increases the risk of lung damage, challenging common beliefs about the safety of marijuana smoking. The study underscores the need for more research in this area to inform public understanding.

According to findings recently presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting, combining marijuana and cigarette smoking could result in greater harm to the lung’s air sacs.

Despite widespread beliefs that marijuana smoking is not harmful to the lungs, extensive research has highlighted the dangers of cigarette smoking. However, there’s limited knowledge about the impact of marijuana smoking on its own, and even less is understood about the effects when it’s combined with cigarette smoking.

“Marijuana is the most widely used illicit psychoactive substance in the world, and its use has increased in Canada since the legalization of non-medical marijuana in 2018,” said study co-author Jessie Kang, M.D., cardiothoracic radiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. “Currently, not much research exists on the effects of marijuana smoking on the lungs.”

To determine the effects of marijuana and cigarette smoking, researchers for the multicenter prospective study examined the chest CT images of four patient groups: non-smokers, cigarette smokers, marijuana smokers, and combined…