Doctors Say Increase in Marijuana Use Could Cause Health Risk

 Brendan Murray,

As GoLocal reported, Portland’s recreational marijuana market is off to a quick start—the industry reported more than $11 million in sales during the first week alone. With that increase in Portlanders toking up comes renewed concerns about the health risks, and benefits, associated with the cannabis plant.
 
Otis Brawley, the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, told GoLocal that while there are serious health risks that arise when the cannabis plant is smoked, there are also medicinal benefits to using marijuana in other forms.

“There are risks any time you are smoking something. There are definitely risks associated with smoking marijuana, things like lung disease and certainly cancer,” Brawley said. “However, there are certainly some medicinal, beneficial uses for the plant that should be explored.”

“Definitely A Health Risk”

According to the American Lung Association, many of the same health risks caused by tobacco smoke can also be found in marijuana smoke.

“Smoke is harmful to lung health. Whether from burning wood, tobacco or marijuana, toxins and carcinogens are released from the combustion of materials,” a spokesman from the American Lung Association said. “Smoke from marijuana combustion has been shown to contain many of the same toxins, irritants and carcinogens as tobacco smoke.”

Marijuana smoke can be especially harmful, according to the American Lung Association, because of the differences between how marijuana and tobacco are typically consumed. Marijuana smokers typically inhale the smoke deeper into their lungs and hold smoke in their lungs and airways for longer than tobacco users, causing a higher exposure to toxins and carcinogens.

Jennifer Dilley,  a senior research scientist with the Multnomah County Health Department and the Oregon Health Authority, said that while there is still much to be learned about marijuana use, it is “definitely a health risk.”

Dilley noted that there were particularly high risks for expectant mothers and mothers who are breastfeeding.
“During pregnancy and breastfeeding it's one of those areas where studies have been mixed,” Dilley said, noting that the county health department felt the need to recommend this measure in order to protect a potential risk to a vulnerable population.

“What we do think is that THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, is passed to the baby via breast milk or other factors. We don’t know what effect that has yet.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana use during pregnancy has been shown to cause gaps in problem-solving skills, memory, and the ability to remain attentive.

Medical Research Needed

Brawley, chief medical officer with the American Cancer Association, said that despite all of those health risks, marijuana may have nearly as many health benefits to offer. However, exactly what medicinal effects the cannabis plant may hold are still unknown, as few large-scale studies have been done on the subject.

“There have certainly been some signs that marijuana has plenty of medicinal qualities,” Brawley said. “Even though it's become medically legal and even recreationally legal in many states, marijuana is still highly illegal under federal law, which means it is difficult to conduct tests on.”

Brawley said that forms of cannabis consumption that do not require combustions—such as edibles, beverages, topical ointments and even pill capsules—could offer new treatment options to sick patients.

“This needs very rigorous scientific testing,” Brawley said. “We need to figure out what doses cause what effect. Right now there is not enough reliable research data to really say what medicinal effects this plant has to offer.”