There was a time when it seemed like everyone and his neighbor smoked. From cigarettes to cigars and pipes, it seemed like everyone had a favorite way to use tobacco. Things have changed quite a bit since the landmark Tobacco Settlement and subsequent efforts by activists to convince people to stop smoking. With smoking rates in the U.S. now considerably lower, perhaps we should turn our attention to cannabis.
Recent data from Leafly seems to suggest that cannabis is the fifth most valuable crop in the U.S. Only corn, soybean, hay, and wheat exceed cannabis in terms of monetary value. That is pretty impressive when you consider that tobacco doesn’t even make the top eight.
Does anyone recognize a problem here? With so many people now using cannabis both recreationally and medically, it could very well be that it is the new tobacco. And before you roll your eyes, consider that the majority of recreational users choose to smoke plant material or vape THC. Both methods are preferred because inhalation creates the most immediate effects.
1. Smoking Anything Is Dangerous
The ironies of recreational cannabis use are many and varied. At the top of the list is that associated with smoking. We already know that smoking anything is dangerous. Smoke is a byproduct of combustion, and combustion releases thousands of toxic chemicals the smoker inhales into their lungs.
How ironic that many of the same people who advocate for uninhibited recreational marijuana are also on board with regulating tobacco due to its inherent dangers. Meanwhile, many of the states that have worked hard to curtail vaping among nicotine users have no problem allowing cannabis users to vape.
If anything, the contradictory nature of recreational cannabis use proves that the arguments against smoking and vaping were never about health. If they were legitimately about health, smoking and vaping cannabis would be promoted as equally deadly. Yet when was the last time you saw a TV commercial depicting a lifelong cannabis smoker who died of lung cancer?
2. Not Allowed Everywhere
To be fair, smoking cannabis is not allowed in every state with a cannabis program. The owners of Deseret Wellness, a Provo, UT medical cannabis dispensary, say the Beehive State is one such example. Medical cannabis patients in Utah can vape their medicines. They can also add raw cannabis flower to their own edible recipes; they can even dry heat it in specialized device. But they cannot smoke it.
Utah regulators are smart enough to know that burning cannabis is not any safer than burning tobacco. They are not going to allow patients to legally do something that could be more detrimental to their health than whatever condition they are using medical cannabis for.
3. All the Cool Kids Are Doing It
One last thing to consider is just how tobacco became so popular in the U.S. some five decades ago. It was an ‘all the cool kids are doing it’ sort of thing. Society’s rebels began taking up smoking in the 40s and 50s. Those rebels became adults whose habits were passed on to their children. By the time the mid-70s rolled around, smoking was so common that finding someone who didn’t light up every now and again was unusual. Could we be headed for the same sort of thing with cannabis?
Before you say no, consider how many people drink alcohol. Alcohol consumers are in the majority. It is not unreasonable that nationwide legalization could lead to the same dynamic with cannabis. And if that happens, cannabis will become the new tobacco that a majority of Americans use.
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