Some of you may read that title and are subconsciously checking off another reason why pot is fucking awesome. Good for you, the perception of marijuana as an illicit substance has been changing steadily over the course of the decades. Several opinion polls now indicate that a majority of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana, conclusively proving that people like to get high.
Aside from getting high and playing Xbox live, it now appears that marijuana use may actually reduce the likelihood of obesity in individuals who smoke pot regularly. According to a study recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, regular users of cannabis have a much lower prevalence of obesity than non users. Even when the researchers adjusted for other factors that can contribute to body fat such as tobacco use, age or gender, the correlation remained strong.
An additional study published by the British Medical Journal, conducted another study to examine the correlation between diabetes and marijuana use. The longitudinal study recorded information taken from over 10,000 American citizens. Pot smokers and non pot smokers were differentiated and then the participants were examined for a prevalence of diabetes. Once again, there was a strong reverse correlation between pot smokers a diabetes. Essentially, marijuana users were less likely to develop diabetes.
Now, anybody who even remotely paid attention in high school science class will instantly scream ‘correlation does not mean causality!’ And you would be right. While a strong correlation remains, there really is no definitive proof that marijuana can decrease the likelihood of diabetes or obesity. In fact, smoking pot has a tendency to promote binge eating , which obviously will lead to a higher caloric intake.
While the many uses of marijuana are being debated and studied, there is still no clear sign if and when cannabis will be legalized in the United States. The battle rages on for the future of marijuana. There are plenty of supporters and there are plenty of others who will fight tooth and nail to keep the substance illegal.
I’m sure there are plenty of you who will perform some independent research of your own, presumably with a bag of potato chips open while watching reruns of The Chapelle Show.
the above image can be found here
Agreed, which is exactly why the findings in these studies were so strange. There seems to be conclusive evidence that regular smokers have a higher caloric intake, which would logically mean more obesity related illnesses.
However, a hypothesis is that marijuana may suppress a diabetes causing compound at the chemical level. Nothing is conclusive,but it remains an interesting point of discussion.
I thought marijuana was an appetite stimulant? That aside regular smoking isn’t exactly healthy. They’ve done studies that have shown detriments in IQ (mostly in people under the age of, 24 [the time when the brain is finished developing]) and being exposed to several myself from high school now into adulthood.. I wouldn’t argue. It can be beneficial medically, but I wouldn’t advocate it for recreational use.