Smoking Weed May Not Be as Harmless as You Think

In my experience, both legal and illegal marijuana are easily accessible in college. The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged many college students to turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope, especially marijuana. According to Statistics Canada, youth between the ages 15 to 34 were 12% more likely to have increased their use of cannabis during the pandemic, which begs the question: how dangerous is it? (1)

A friend of mine cited insomnia as a precursor to smoking weed. “I use weed to help me sleep…It’s gotten to a point where I wake up in the mornings feeling terrible…headache, disoriented, super tired, etc., but I can’t sleep if I don’t use it.” It makes sense: stress and anxiety often lead to insomnia, and insomnia leads to stress (2). The solution to this catch-22? Good old drugs.

According to a 2018 University of Michigan survey, 43% of college students between the ages of 19 and 22 reported using marijuana at least once in the past year. 25% reported using it at least once in the past month. This means marijuana use in college students is at a historic high since 1983 – recall that this is the tail-end of the hippie counterculture movement, when smoking was commonplace (3). 

So, college students smoke weed. No surprise there. Most college students are generally aware that smoking can wreak havoc on one’s body, but they may not know to what extent. Many college students are opposed to smoking cigarettes, but take no issue with smoking weed (4). Ironically, a marijuana joint delivers four times as much tar to the lungs as a cigarette. In terms of bodily damage, “Scientists have compared marijuana and tobacco smoking…but have failed to find consistent evidence that either substance poses a greater health risk than the other” (5).

Smoking marijuana can lead to increased risk for respiratory illnesses such as chronic bronchitis and COPD, as well as cancer of the lungs, mouth, and throat (5). Admittedly, the evidence is limited. It’s difficult to pinpoint the dangers of the drug because it is classified as a Schedule I drug by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which acts as a barrier for drug researchers.

Consuming marijuana (smoking, vaping, ingesting, etc.) also increases the risk of mental illness. According to NPR, smoking daily could increase the chances of developing psychosis (such as schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders) by as much as four times compared to people who have never used it (6). Note that cannabis use is a risk factor: for those prone to psychosis (for instance, if schizophrenia runs in the family), using cannabis can trigger the onset of symptoms. Whether cannabis use causes psychosis is unknown.

In other words, no one should be using weed on a regular basis. Both mental and physical health effects are most prevalent for daily users—and many college students fit the bill. In the words of psychologist Dr. Halgin of UMass Amherst, “If you’re using it every day, multiple times a day, that’s not recreational. You’re medicating yourself, so figure out what it is that’s distressing you” (7).  

Sources: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

(7) Intellectual property from Dr. Richard Halgin was approved for use in this article.