CHICAGO, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. policymakers should take the dangers of cigarette smoking into account and consider legalizing only noncombustible forms of the drug, three University of Michigan(UM) researchers wrote in an article newly published in the Health Affairs journal.
As several U.S. states continue the debate over legalizing marijuana for recreational use, the three co-authors Rebecca Haffajee, Alex Liber and Kenneth Warner argued that lawmakers should limit marijuana use to forms that are not smoked because of the evidence tobacco research has shown when combustible products are used.
"Evidence is building that smoking marijuana, like smoking cigarettes, causes disease, and because high-quality alternative sources of tetrahydrocannabino(THC) exist, we would be smart to only let the safer products develop into a legal market." said Rebecca Haffajee, assistant professor of health management and policy at the UM School of Public Health.
Haffajee said marijuana smoke, like tobacco, likely contains carcinogens in the burning process, as it creates hundreds of chemical compounds and toxins, many of which are hazardous to human health.
To date, the debate around marijuana legalization has only addressed health from the perspective of harms around youth access and driving while under the influence. Most of the consideration has been about morality, criminal justice and public finance.
Research is only recently surfacing about the harms of combustion with marijuana and impacts on heart and lung health.
Retail sales of recreational marijuana are currently legal in eight U.S. states and the country of Uruguay. Canada and several other U.S states are expected to follow suit.
