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The national governments of both Canada and the United States, as well as the public at large, are infuriated over recent reports of the tobacco industry increasing nicotine content in cigarettes, suppressing information about fire resistant cigarettes, and generally being bad actors. Strangely, neither the public nor some members of our governments recognize the harmful parallels to marijuana.
Tobacco is responsible for over 400,000 deaths every year from cancer, lung, heart, and other cardiovascular diseases. Marijuana has been linked to over 30% of vehicular trauma cases and is the most commonly abused illegal narcotic drug. It contains higher concentrations of cancer causing agents than tobacco. Marijuana and tobacco cause at least the same amount of injury to the airways, pulmonary function, and lung immunity. Recent studies have demonstrated increased health care utilization among heavy marijuana smokers for respiratory problems.
Tobacco is a highly addictive substance. Many physicians consider tobacco use one of the hardest drugs to stop consuming. Marijuana is also addictive, and is even one of the hardest drugs for addicts to quit cold turkey. Drug users often return to marijuana first if they relapse. The nicotine content of cigarettes varies by their producers. The major addictive ingredient in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), varies from 3% to 29% by content.
Tobacco use by pregnant women is closely associated with many forms of birth defects and abnormalities. Marijuana use by pregnant women is associated with decreased birth weight, length, and shorter pregnancy gestation periods. Recent studies have demonstrated that young children exposed to second hand marijuana smoke have a ten-fold higher risk of developing acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia.
Users frequently refuse to quit tobacco consumption, because it helps some of them lose weight and manage anxiety, despite the severe health consequences associated with such use. A growing movement in both Canada and the United States is supporting the use and legalization of small amounts of marijuana for what they call "medical purposes," despite the severe health consequences, toxicity, and the availability of safer, more effective medications for the various medical problems plaguing those individuals. None of the major global medical organizations support tobacco or marijuana as a medicine. Although a few medical practitioners have stated publicly that marijuana has some medical benefits, their claims have never been approved and verified by any of the major medical associations nor the World Health Organization.
The tobacco lobbies throughout North America are a powerful, well-financed, and aggressive group that has successfully fought efforts to regulate, tax, or otherwise control the production and distribution of cigarettes. The marijuana lobby is also well-financed and highly organized. These lobby groups have continually flooded the media with misinformation suggesting that marijuana is harmless and should be available medically and for general use via legalization of the drug. Drug culture "experts" downplay recent massive research showing health problems associated with the continued use of marijuana. The tobacco "experts" also deny the link of tobacco to cancer and other major health problems.
I would never trust these so-called "independent experts" that the tobacco industry has paraded out to the public over the years to tell us things like tobacco smoking is really good for you, because it relaxes you, and that there is no connection between cigarette smoking and addiction, and, of course, their latest claim that they never manipulate nicotine levels in the production of their cigarettes. My view also applies to the current social atmosphere surrounding marijuana. We need to learn from the sad mistakes surrounding tobacco and not extend these to marijuana and other illegal and illicit drugs. I believe that the only reason that the health impact of marijuana and other illegal drugs is still less than tobacco is that the other drugs are still illegal. The drug culture and its lobbyists are every bit as insincere, manipulative, and self-serving as the tobacco lobby groups. In my Straight Edge opinion, all addictive drugs should be outlawed. I believe marijuana should be kept as an illegal narcotic and I also support the criminalization of cigarette production and consumption.
