"Marijuana smoke contains many of the same chemicals as tobacco" - Fanning .
If tobacco causes cancer, has cardiovascular effects, and causes depression, why is it legalized and not marijuana? Even though marijuana has some cons, the pros outweigh the negative. There is very little evidence that smoking marijuana represents a significant health risk, it can be used as medicine, and it can be taxed. In the article Marijuana vs Cigarettes, Dr. Tashkin expresses his knowledge of cannabis use due to the studies he has conducted. Studies have shown that smoking marijuana does not increase your chance of getting cancer and may even lower it slightly. Of course, vaping or eating cannabis are still considered the safest methods of ingestion especially for daily consumers. "After 20 years of testing, researchers found some buzz worthy results: regular marijuana smokers (defined by up to a joint a day for seven years) had no discernible impairment in lung activity from non-smokers "(Journal Of the American Medical Association). In other words, smoking marijuana had no effect on the lungs of these young adults that were between 18 and 30 years old. On the other hand, tobacco (cigarettes) contain 4,000 other harmful chemicals, such as tar and carbon monoxide, which can damage your tissues and organs, which can lead to cancer; most common is lung cancer. .
In the Los Angeles Times article, Blurring the Legal Line, David Ferrell expresses the many uses of marijuana for medical uses. "But most advocates of smoking marijuana as medicine say there is no conclusive proof that smoking pot is harmful. Even if it is, user after user say they are willing to take the risk " (Ferrell). Marijuana has been used as a medicine since antiquity, but U.S. anti-drug laws have kept physicians from prescribing it or testing its benefits. Well-documented, experimentally tested uses for marijuana include controlling nausea from cancer drugs, AIDS drugs, AIDS, and relieving lack of hunger and weight loss from AIDS and drug therapy.