4 ms·

Weed is just as bad to smoke as tobacco, especially since it's often (though not always) mixed with tobacco. One big difference, though, is that weed itself is

by swombat 13y ago

Weed is just as bad to smoke as tobacco, especially since it's often (though not always) mixed with tobacco. One big difference, though, is that weed itself is only very mildly physically addictive, and in a small percentage of the population. This is as compared with tobacco, which is more addictive than heroin, for pretty much everyone. Also, weed contains chemicals, like THC, which are not so harmful, and can be ingested in ways other than smoking (e.g. inhalers). And unlike cigarettes it has benefits as a painkiller for people for whom other painkillers no longer work (e.g. terminal cancer patients, who probably don't need to worry about getting lung cancer 20 years from now). Overall the scorecard seems to be: Smoking weed is probably just as bad as smoking cigarettes, but has a number of benefits over cigarettes and is nowhere near as addictive. That makes it less harmful overall.

hmsimha 13y ago
FYI mixing weed with tobacco is purely a cultural phenomenon. This is something that I have never heard of being done in the U.S.
- tks2103 13y ago
  Rolling a weed cigarette with tobacco produces something called a 'spliff' in the U.S. It's common in the U.S. in New York and California.
  - hmsimha 13y ago
    I've heard the word spliff many times in the U.S. but only used in reference to a joint with just marijuana.
WA 13y ago
Tobacco (nicotine) is also only mildly physically addictive. The main part is psychological addiction. Weed has also a number of negative side effects over cigarettes. THC, after all, is a psychoactive drug and some people develop a psychosis from smoking weed. This doesn't happen when smoking tobacco. It depends entirely on what you're comparing here. Do you compare smoking 10 joints vs. 10 cigarettes or 1 joint vs 10 cigarettes (per day? per week? per month?)? If one smokes as much weed as tobacco, he might develop way worse symptoms than someone who "just" smokes cigarettes.
- axaxs 13y ago
  Are you kidding? Nicotine is extremely addictive. What are you comparing it to as 'mild'?
  - hereonbusiness 13y ago
    The physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are rather mild, you feel a bit strange for a couple of days. Not really comparable to getting off of opiates for example.
    - contingencies 13y ago
      you feel a bit strange for a couple of days Err, no. It's fucking horrible. Like most people, I tried to quit many times, usually cold turkey, so multiply your 2-3 days figure by 10 (which I think is roughly the average number of attempts before success). That's a month of your life. A friend from the UK described it as follows: "I feel like I want to climb a tower with a sniper rifle and shoot small children." I think that's accurate. Besides, the insidious part is that you see it everywhere ... shops, bars, the street, movies ... withdrawl upsets your sleeping so you are awake at night to go out ... you feel you can 'just have one' .. it is usually prevalent in a social scene ... you drink .. you associate it with drinking .. you lose your reason with the alcohol which compounds the sense of 'just have one' ... you want a break from work and you associate it with a smoke .. other people are smoking .. It's really hard to avoid. Not like heroin, which is hard to run in to by accident. (I also know of multiple people who have quit both and they said cigarettes were harder. Not physically, but overall.)
- andyhmltn 13y ago
  Citation on developing psychosis? As far as I've read that's a very small number of people and usually linked to people with undiagnosed schizophrenia.
  - 1_player 13y ago
    I'm positive I'm not schizophrenic, I've smoked my fair amount of weed during my youth and, while I enjoyed it very much, now if I take a single puff of a joint I get very anxious, and I have had a more than couple panic attacks due to it. It's taken me some time to forget the good times I had when high, and associate it with anxiety, in order to stop myself from thinking "Yeah, I'd like to smoke a joint now". So while I had no withdrawal symptoms, it's taken me some time to remove the psychological "addiction". Marijuana may be a drug with a lot of positive health benefits but may exacerbate psychosis and panic attacks in healthy people too. (i.e. not schizophrenic or with other major mental disorders)
seivan 13y ago
Hmm, there was this one period where I had a flat mate who smoked, so I smoked with him, regularly every day. When he left, I stopped smoking.... cold turkey. He was the one acquiring the cigarettes and he was the one going on smoke breaks at the evenings, I just went along and got one from him. I don't mind smoking a cigarette, but I never found the urge to do so. I jokingly tell people I can't get addicted to cigarettes even though I smoked almost every day for 6 months. Never found myself addicted to tobacco. Chips on the other hand...
- tsotha 13y ago
  My dad smoked for 40 years. Every time he tried to stop he got tremors, fevers, headaches, and diarrhea. It took a heart attack for him to finally stop, and almost twenty years later he still has cravings.
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by swombat 13y ago

hmsimha 13y ago

FYI mixing weed with tobacco is purely a cultural phenomenon. This is something that I have never heard of being done in the U.S.

tks2103 13y ago
Rolling a weed cigarette with tobacco produces something called a 'spliff' in the U.S. It's common in the U.S. in New York and California.
- hmsimha 13y ago
  I've heard the word spliff many times in the U.S. but only used in reference to a joint with just marijuana.

WA 13y ago

Tobacco (nicotine) is also only mildly physically addictive. The main part is psychological addiction. Weed has also a number of negative side effects over cigarettes. THC, after all, is a psychoactive drug and some people develop a psychosis from smoking weed. This doesn't happen when smoking tobacco. It depends entirely on what you're comparing here. Do you compare smoking 10 joints vs. 10 cigarettes or 1 joint vs 10 cigarettes (per day? per week? per month?)? If one smokes as much weed as tobacco, he might develop way worse symptoms than someone who "just" smokes cigarettes.

axaxs 13y ago
Are you kidding? Nicotine is extremely addictive. What are you comparing it to as 'mild'?
- hereonbusiness 13y ago
  The physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal are rather mild, you feel a bit strange for a couple of days. Not really comparable to getting off of opiates for example.
  - contingencies 13y ago
    you feel a bit strange for a couple of days Err, no. It's fucking horrible. Like most people, I tried to quit many times, usually cold turkey, so multiply your 2-3 days figure by 10 (which I think is roughly the average number of attempts before success). That's a month of your life. A friend from the UK described it as follows: "I feel like I want to climb a tower with a sniper rifle and shoot small children." I think that's accurate. Besides, the insidious part is that you see it everywhere ... shops, bars, the street, movies ... withdrawl upsets your sleeping so you are awake at night to go out ... you feel you can 'just have one' .. it is usually prevalent in a social scene ... you drink .. you associate it with drinking .. you lose your reason with the alcohol which compounds the sense of 'just have one' ... you want a break from work and you associate it with a smoke .. other people are smoking .. It's really hard to avoid. Not like heroin, which is hard to run in to by accident. (I also know of multiple people who have quit both and they said cigarettes were harder. Not physically, but overall.)
andyhmltn 13y ago
Citation on developing psychosis? As far as I've read that's a very small number of people and usually linked to people with undiagnosed schizophrenia.
- 1_player 13y ago
  I'm positive I'm not schizophrenic, I've smoked my fair amount of weed during my youth and, while I enjoyed it very much, now if I take a single puff of a joint I get very anxious, and I have had a more than couple panic attacks due to it. It's taken me some time to forget the good times I had when high, and associate it with anxiety, in order to stop myself from thinking "Yeah, I'd like to smoke a joint now". So while I had no withdrawal symptoms, it's taken me some time to remove the psychological "addiction". Marijuana may be a drug with a lot of positive health benefits but may exacerbate psychosis and panic attacks in healthy people too. (i.e. not schizophrenic or with other major mental disorders)

seivan 13y ago

Hmm, there was this one period where I had a flat mate who smoked, so I smoked with him, regularly every day. When he left, I stopped smoking.... cold turkey. He was the one acquiring the cigarettes and he was the one going on smoke breaks at the evenings, I just went along and got one from him. I don't mind smoking a cigarette, but I never found the urge to do so. I jokingly tell people I can't get addicted to cigarettes even though I smoked almost every day for 6 months. Never found myself addicted to tobacco. Chips on the other hand...

tsotha 13y ago
My dad smoked for 40 years. Every time he tried to stop he got tremors, fevers, headaches, and diarrhea. It took a heart attack for him to finally stop, and almost twenty years later he still has cravings.

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