It was first believed that marijuana smoke is less harmful to you than smoke from tobacco cigarettes, but what if that’s not true? Scientists are performing further testing to see what the effects of second-hand marijuana smoke will do to humans immediately exposed and in the long run.
A connection between marijuana smoke and lung cancer has not been observed unlike in tobacco smoke. In fact, compounds found in marijuana have been shown to kill cancer cell types like lung, lymphoma, and prostate cancer to name a few. This is not to say that marijuana smoke won't cause cellular damage, Tashkin et al performed a study that did demonstrate that it could cause smoke-induced cellular damage but further proved that there was no link to it causing cancerous cells. Both types of smoke contain carcinogens and matter that can cause an inflammatory response that could lead to an enhancement of carcinogenic effects of smoke. "Nicotine receptors are widely distributed and are found in the epithelial cells lining respiratory passages. Cannabinoid receptors are also widely distributed, but have not been reported in epithelial cells. The differential expression of receptors may account for the apparent difference in carcinogenic activity that results from smoking tobacco compared to cannabis," explains Melamede, who works in the Bioenergetics Institute at the University of Colorado.
It’s clearly known that second-hand smoke from tobacco is bad for you and we have heard this for decades, however not much has been said about second-hand smoke from marijuana because the studies haven’t been conducted and the results not known, until now. It seems to be that any kind of second-hand smoke, even those promoted as “safer” aren’t necessarily safer because they can still have some cardiovascular risks from the exposure.
