The Effects of Marijuana on Respiratory Tract

Even though marijuana is inhaled similarly to tobacco smoke, it has not proven to cause chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  It is obvious that marijuana does effect other aspects of your health such as increased mucous and coughing, but this particular study did not find any direct correlation between marijuana and distinct diseases.  It did find that marijuana does have psychological effects such as tachycardia (elevated heart rate), emotional changes and long term cognitive impairment.

Another thing that this study found was that the carcinogenic effects of marijuana are not clearly determined at this time, which should be yet another reason to favor medical marijuana.  Some studies found that marijuana increased the risk for cancer, some found it lowered the risk for cancer, and some found it to aide in the effects of the immune system.  Overall the findings seemed to favor the benefit of marijuana more than the negative effects of marijuana.  One thing they did comment on was that the medical marijuana industry doesn't just sell actual grown marijuana, but rather also sells marijuana products such as foods, beverages, and creams.

These "other" products have not been tested in great detail and their safety for consumer use has not been determined.  More study will need to be done on all marijuana, but certainly more will need to be done on non-traditional methods of using THC.