Cigarettes are a mixture of the most dangerous substances for humans to consume and yet they are legal and mass produced so that everyone can smoke them. Marijuana on the other hand is nowhere nearly as harmful as cigarettes but is illegal and looked at as if it were far worse than cigarettes. It is long overdue that society recognizes the fact that marijuana is better for people than cigarettes by a mile. Cigarettes are extremely more addictive than marijuana, the usage patterns for marijuana cannot compare to cigarettes, and dozens of lethal chemicals are put into cigarettes whereas marijuana is a natural plant and doesn’t contain nearly as many chemicals.
According to the American Lung Association, every year about four hundred and
It is true that marijuana smoke does contain a number of irritants as well as carcinogens, but marijuana smokers tent to smoke less than someone who smokes cigarettes thus over time inhaling less smoke, making the risk of lung damage significantly lower. There have been no reports of lung cancer solely related to marijuana smoke. A large study presented to the American Thoracic Society in 2006 showed that, even in cases of chronic marijuana smokers, there was no increased risk of lung cancer. Unlike heavy tobacco smokers, heavy marijuana smokers do not exhibit obstruction of the lung’s small airway. This indicates that people do not develop emphysema from smoking marijuana. The last common myth associated with smoking marijuana being more harmful for one’s health over smoking tobacco is that marijuana is a gateway drug. The theory that smoking marijuana leads to the use of “harder drugs,” such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, is one that is not proven, or even been tested[1]. In fact, smoking marijuana does not cause people to use “hard drugs.” The gateway theory presents as a casual explanation is the statistic association between common and uncommon drugs, an association that changes over time as different drugs increase and decrease in prevalence. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug. Therefore marijuana is a terminus drug rather than a gateway drug and does not cause addiction