Marijuana is a hot topic today, with many states legalizing it, either recreationally or medically. The people of my generation are staunchly in favor of legalization, because they see very few side effects, and potential benefits in pain reduction and return of appetite for cancer patients. The generation preceding us is less sure, and has concern about both the mental and physical side effects of marijuana. In this blog, I will investigate both sides of the coin, and come out with my own decision in the end.

Over time, the way that studies on marijuana have been conducted have gotten better, but because the drug is still illegal, it is difficult to get reliable data from humans. In this study from 1987, the results were found to be:

“Evidence regarding the potential long-term pulmonary consequences of regular marijuana smoking is mixed. Several studies conducted during the past decade on whole animals and isolated cell systems exposed to marijuana smoke, as well as some clinical observations, suggest that marijuana can be harmful to the lung. Conversely, human studies carried out abroad have failed to find any evidence of respiratory dysfunction or disease in long term heavy users of marijuana.”

Unfortunately, none of the results from this study can be considered truly useful, because the data that was collected on animals can only be used in terms of animals, and the data collected on humans was self reported, making it quite unreliable. The subjects of this survey were told to self-report their marijuana usage, as well as their history of lung issues. This data can be used as a nice talking point, but it has little scientific value.

One study done started in 1993, which concluded 20 years later in 2013, measured things such as the effects of marijuana on a driver, the concept that it is a “gateway drug”, and its physical and mental health effects as well. Here is a table of their results, with the “strength of effect” column measuring the evidence that has grown over the last 20 years.

Again, though, it is hard to know the reliability of this study, as it was also done in a self reported manner. It does, however, hold much more significance than the study mentioned prior, because it was conducted over 20 years, with many more subjects.

This study  is conducted in a different manner. Its goal was to see if there was a connection between marijuana and growing stem cells to repair the brain after a head trauma. According to this study, “activation of cannabinoid receptors suppresses chronic inflammatory responses through the attenuation of pro-inflammatory mediators.” and directs neural stem cells in the central nervous system, which helps to repair the brain. What differentiates this study from the others is the fact that it is a “test tube” study, done exclusively in a laboratory, with no animals or humans used, just genes. While this should translate to humans directly, often times it does not, so until the experiment is done on actual humans, it cannot be considered to be hard evidence.

This issue is a frustrating one, simply because it is very difficult for it to be studied. I have had several discussions with my father (who is a medical researcher himself) and he believes that the only way to have reliable studies on marijuana is for it to be legalized, despite the fact that morally, he thinks that legalization is a bad idea. Personally, I think it should be legalized as well, but with serious regulations. I think that the only circumstances in which it should be legal are medical, whether it is being used to treat a patient, or to research it. Until it is further studied, I cannot condone legalizing it recreationally. More research is needed on this topic, and I believe that this is the only way to do that.