Study Results: Cannabis smokers are less exposed to toxic chemicals than cigarette smokers

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Cannabis smokers are less exposed to toxic chemicals than cigarette smokers, according to a new clinical study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin recruited 53 subjects to systematically test the differences in toxicity levels between tobacco and cannabis smokers. The subjects included 16 people who only smoke weed, 18 cigarette smokers who do not smoke cannabis, and 19 people who regularly smoke both. To qualify for the study, cannabis users had to consume at least once a week, and tobacco smokers had to smoke at least 5 cigarettes per day.

In the course of two separate laboratory visits, each subject was asked to report their most recent tobacco and cannabis use. The researchers also performed urine and breath tests at each visit to determine each subject’s exposure to harmful chemicals. The study’s authors looked specifically for toxins or man-made synthetic chemicals, rather than toxins, which are naturally occurring compounds.

The study reports that subjects who only smoked cannabis “had lower levels of toxins on most of the biomarkers” than cigarette smokers. The researchers found similar levels of toxins in subjects who only smoked cigarettes and those who smoked both weed and tobacco. Both groups smoked similar numbers of cigarettes, suggesting that smoking weed and tobacco together is no greater health risk than smoking cigarettes alone.

All tobacco smokers in the study had higher levels of exhaled carbon monoxide than cannabis smokers. Cigarette smokers also showed higher levels of NNAL, a known carcinogen found only in tobacco products. The study authors also report that subjects who only smoked cigarettes had higher levels of 2-HPMA, a metabolite of the carcinogenic propylene oxide, than cannabis smokers or fellow users.

Although the small size of this study makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions on the subject, it confirms previous research suggesting that smoking cigarettes is much riskier than smoking weed. A recent study found that regular tobacco use was far more damaging to human DNA than cannabis, while another concluded that tobacco smokers were more likely to develop secondary cancer than cannabis smokers.

Broader research studies have also found that cannabis users are generally less likely to develop cancer than non-users, and some researchers have even discovered that cannabinoids can effectively kill certain types of cancer cells.

The growing wave of cannabis legalization may help cigarette smokers to give up this habit too. Recent studies have found that medical cannabis users are more likely to reduce their nicotine intake and that young adults in the United States smoke more weed and less tobacco.