Shaun Francis: Marijuana will soon be legal. That won't make it healthy

'Increasingly,' the New Yorker magazine noted earlier this year, 'the industry is equating conscious marijuana use with sublime good health'

Shaun Francis

Dosist is a company that sells small, off-white devices it calls “dose pens,” a little larger than a rubber eraser, designed to vaporize precisely controlled amounts of marijuana concentrate. The products come in different formulations, each labelled with marketing monikers like “bliss,” “calm” and “relief.”

The dose pens are not currently legal in Canada, but the company’s Canadian president, Josh Campbell, is fighting for the right to sell here, and there’s a palpable buzz around the product. What fascinates me is the company’s trademarked motto: “Delivering health and happiness.”

As the CEO of a company that has helped Canadians manage their health for more than 30 years, I worry about the way marijuana companies like Dosist are co-opting the language of wellness. “Increasingly,” the New Yorker magazine noted earlier this year, “the industry is equating conscious marijuana use with sublime good health.” 

In this Sept. 27, 2016, file photo, different strains of marijuana are displayed in West Salem Cannabis, a marijuana shop in Salem, Ore. AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File 

In fact, as new companies like the high-end cannabis-lifestyle brand, Tokyo Smoke, chart a course for expansion, and Canadian publicly traded marijuana corporations, like the wellness-targeted MedReleaf, have market caps in the billions, front-line doctors, including those at Medcan, have seen an increase in cannabis-related questions from people who would never fit the stereotype of drug user.

After Oct. 17, once Canada officially becomes the first G20 country to make marijuana legal, we’re likely to see an intense push by marketers to differentiate the numerous different cannabis companies that are leaping into the market. And even more than they already have, many are bound to employ the language of wellness to consolidate their market positions.

I question any marketing that so closely ties human happiness to the consumption of a controlled substance. And the science shows that consumers should, too.

Is marijuana healthy? How much is a safe dose? How frequently is the stuff safe to consume? And does it cause cancer, the same way as that other inhaled addictive substance, tobacco?

The medical profession doesn’t really know the answer to many of those questions because not enough well-constructed academic studies have been performed on the human effects of marijuana consumption. Which is why Dosist’s line about “delivering health and happiness” is so ludicrous.

 

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Brandon Bartelds smokes three joints at once while attending the 4-20 annual marijuana celebration, in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday April 20, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck 

On the one hand, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control associates marijuana use with anxiety and depression. On the other, respected medical professionals like CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta are singing its praises as an effective treatment for epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other maladies.

The best scientific review examining the health implications of marijuana use appeared last year in the American Journal of Public Health. The study was led by a Canadian — Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

“Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug globally, and Canada has among the highest use rates,” noted Fischer and his team. Between 10 and 15 per cent of adults in the general population use the drug, Fischer and his coauthors write, and between 25 and 30 per cent of adolescents and young adults having used marijuana in the past year.

Health risks do exist for marijuana, Fischer’s team concluded. “Although the public health burden of cannabis use is clearly smaller than for alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs, (marijuana use) is associated with risks for various adverse health outcomes,” they write, tying it to such issues as cognitive impairment, dependence problems, breathing trouble and motor vehicle accidents.

The best way to avoid health risks associated with cannabis use is to simply abstain. People under the age of 16 should flat out not use it, they say. In fact, early cannabis use “is associated with a higher risk of dependence and later problem outcomes.”

The most common way of consuming marijuana is by smoking it in some manner, but Fischer and his coauthors suggest choosing alternate methods. Combusting marijuana joints can be associated with such unpleasant conditions as “excessive sputum.” Interestingly, the guidelines conclude that only mixed evidence has linked marijuana use to lung cancer.

The prospect of legal marijuana in Canada has spurred a lot of curiosity among people who otherwise wouldn’t fit the pot user stereotype. Many of these people may be tempted to experiment with marijuana in the coming months.

That’s their personal choice. But despite advertiser’s best efforts, I’d caution readers from associating marijuana with wellness. The recreational drug remains one of those substances like alcohol, sugary drinks and fried foods, that may not inflict much harm in moderation, but should certainly not become a habit. In other words, if you are not a user, there is little reason to start.