Individual Cigarette Alerts: Is Cannabis Next? – Cannabis | weed | marijuana

This month, Canada became the first and only country in the world to mandate individual cigarette warnings. Warnings and graphics have been the norm for years. But individual cigarette warnings?

Cannabis pre-rolls next?

CLN asked Health Canada and they responded, “There are currently no proposed regulatory changes to the Cannabis Regulations to apply individual health warnings to cannabis pre-rolls.”

At this point, this suggests things might change in the future. After all, warning labels are already attached to cannabis packaging. And as the spokesman for Health Canada told us:

“The Tobacco and Vapor Products Act and the Cannabis Act share common goals such as:

• protecting young people and others from inducements to use tobacco and cannabis products; And
• Raising public awareness of the health risks of using these products.”

What guarantees do Canada’s cannabis connoisseurs have that they will not be exposed to the same health propaganda that tobacco users are confronted with?

So what? Tobacco kills and cannabis heals. To the right? But who are we to judge the peaceful, consensual actions of others?

Think cigar connoisseurs. Or how relevant smoking is in Asian cultures. Or the origins of tobacco in indigenous cultures. If I were a leftist, I would probably argue that Western anti-smoking crusades are examples of colonialism and white supremacy.

According to Health Canada, “Regulations for both tobacco and cannabis products are based on the best available scientific evidence.”

But is that true?

Will individual cigarette warnings motivate people to quit? If we allow public health to triumph over tobacco, rest assured that cannabis is not far behind.

Individual Cigarette Alerts: Is Cannabis Next?

It’s an almost universal belief: cigarettes are addictive because of the pharmacological effects of nicotine.

But this belief is wrong. Deeply wrong.

Just as THC has been blamed for “cannabis use disorder,” it’s also a theory that blames nicotine for cigarette addiction, with no evidence to back it up.

Most of us are aware that the public health definition of addiction is bullshit. You need look no further than heroin using Vietnam vets to return home and give up the addiction without treatment.

like dr Carl Hart says it’s not the drugs that are the problem, it’s our relationship with them.

For example, the occasional cigar connoisseur has a much better relationship with tobacco than the habitual cigarette smoker who, despite adverse consequences, does not quit.

And if nicotine were the only culprit, nicotine gum would be far more popular than it is. Cigarette smokers who wish to continue using nicotine could meet their nicotine needs through chewing gum, a much safer delivery mechanism.

But that’s like asking cannabis users to only consume edibles and extracts. So it’s not surprising that researchers have found that “nicotine replacement therapy” has failed.

One study states: “Overall no effect.” [of a nicotine patch] on cigarette consumption is perhaps surprising and suggests that cigarette lighting in regular smokers is generally triggered by signals other than low plasma nicotine levels.”

It’s more than just nicotine

On one level, Health Canada is aware that there is more to this than just nicotine. According to a government website, tobacco use is “linked to other health and social inequalities”.

Without citing a source, they estimate that of the 48,000 Canadians who die each year from tobacco-related causes, “LGBTQ+ and Indigenous Peoples” are the hardest hit.

Regardless of how the population structure develops or whether “social inequalities” are to blame, individual cigarette warnings will not deter committed smokers.

Most cigarette smokers I know get tired of the flashy packaging and go to a First Nation reservation where they can smoke tax-free.

You can’t get people to stop. Cigarette smokers are fully aware of the costs of their actions. If Health Canada wants to help, it would be better to focus on the benefits of smoking.

Take, for example, the ritual of lighting a cigarette. Cannabis connoisseurs have their own traditions that involve grinding bud and rolling a joint. The ritual is part of the “addiction”.

And research supports this. A study conducted on smokers used cigarettes with little to no nicotine. The researchers found that a quarter of smokers experienced no physical or mental changes. They noticed neither the reduction nor the absence of nicotine.

The other quarter described an “unclear lack of satisfaction they usually get from smoking.” Only a third experienced no satisfaction and nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Nicotine plays a role in smoking. There’s no denying that. Just as THC plays a role in most cannabis smoking.

But while cannabis connoisseurs would likely prefer an edible to a joint without THC, research suggests that’s not the case for cigarette smokers. Many would rather have a nicotine-free cigarette than a patch or mouth spray containing nicotine.

Stronger cigarettes = less smoking

THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Robert F. Bukaty

Some accuse tobacco companies of increasing the nicotine content of their cigarettes to make them more addictive. The Canadian government limits the concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes to 20 mg per milliliter. Conventional cigarettes vary.

But historically, cigarettes contained nearly three times more nicotine than today. Far from making cigarettes stronger, tobacco companies went in the opposite direction. Make cigarettes weak so people smoke more of them per day.

Tobacco smoking evolved from the indigenous method of using a pipe to the Western invention of the cigar. In the mid-19th century, cigarettes emerged as an easy, short, and quick “smoke” alternative to the time-consuming cigar.

Unlike pipes and cigars, cigarettes are not designed for moderate use. Smokers should consume them throughout the day.

Cigarette addiction consists of three factors:

• sensory rewards
• psychosocial rewards
• pharmacological rewards

The government of Canada and other western nations (and international organizations like the WHO) ignore the first two rewards. They focus solely on pharmacology and then wonder why their efforts have been unsuccessful.

Everyone knows that smoking cigarettes is harmful. To claim that the only reason people continue to smoke is because of pharmacological dependence is to do more harm than good.

Are you addicted or is it a choice?

Are individual cigarette warnings more harmful than helpful? And suppose we allow the health authorities to over-regulate cigarettes in this way. How can we guarantee that cannabis is not the next step?

Health Canada views tobacco smoke and cannabis smoke as two sides of the same coin.

So let’s debunk this “addictiveness” of cigarettes once and for all. If we could determine cigarette addiction based on chemistry alone, nicotine patches would have ended smoking in the 1990s.

Redefining smoking as a pharmacological addiction rather than a behavioral habit does more harm than good.

It reinforces the smoker’s sense of being a slave to chemistry. It undermines their will to quit. Characterizing cigarette smokers as addicts leads to failure. Like our approach to coping with the opioid crisis, it reinforces “addictive” behavior.

Today’s smokers quit smoking for a variety of reasons. Health benefits, affordability issues and growing social stigma all play a part.

But the assumption that chronic nicotine exposure leads to a brain disorder (“addiction”) that makes it nearly impossible to quit smoking is not based on any evidence.

It robs people of their autonomy and agency by suggesting that they are merely flesh-and-blood computer programs forced to use them by the pharmacology of nicotine and their brain chemistry.

How to quit cigarette smoking

Individual cigarette warnings are not the way to go. Frightening people into breaking a habit you’ve labeled “brain disease” will do more harm than good.

Cigarette smokers reading this had better ask themselves what the benefits of smoking are for them. “I don’t get any benefits; I’m addicted!” is not the correct answer.

Actions speak louder than words. Instead, smokers should look at the broader context in which smoking has acquired such importance in their lives.

The 1964 report of the United States Surgeon General concluded: “The tobacco habit should be characterized as habit, not addiction.”

Key players in public health do more harm than good by destroying people’s sense of choice and responsibility. Individual cigarette warnings are just another building block in the wall.

And you can bet cannabis will be next.