Most smokers believe that cigarettes are unhealthy, whereas marijuana users are more optimistic about the drug’s benefits. Marijuana has less of an effect on the body than other drugs. In addition, the drug is less toxic, less destructive to the lungs, less harmful to the immune system, and less damaging to the brain.
The lungs, one of the body’s essential organs, perform various crucial duties. When healthy, they allow people to breathe easily and do their daily lives with little effort. In contrast, harming them could result in serious illness or even death. Smoking damages lung tissue, which makes it more difficult for the lungs to function normally. Tobacco Smokers are more likely to get lung diseases like asthma, COPD, and lung cancer.
Both marijuana and cigarettes include substances that are harmful to the lungs. Cannabis users, on the other hand, frequently smoke less and may experience less lung damage. Even though it is thought to be less harmful to the lungs than cigarettes, it is still unsafe to smoke marijuana. Studies involving over 5,000 Americans have found that low to moderate marijuana use may not harm the lungs.
More Forgiving to the Brain
Smoking has detrimental consequences on both the body and the brain. Nicotine can impact the brain, causing anxiety, rage, and a need for nicotine. Because quitting smoking is so painful, many smokers would merely have another cigarette to ease the withdrawal symptoms. It can be challenging to escape the vicious cycle of nicotine dependence.
Smoking introduces toxic compounds into the body and the brain. Some of these chemicals can lead to cancer by changing genetic material. As a result, strokes are more likely to occur in smokers than nonsmokers. In addition, the risk of stroke increases with each additional cigarette smoked.
Nicotine is a chemical that mimics neurotransmitters in the brain. As a result, it increases heart rate and oxygen consumption. It also makes endorphins, which help reduce stress and make you feel better. But these effects are only transitory. Smoking is addicting; thus, giving it up results in withdrawal symptoms. In addition, long-term nicotine use is linked to decreased cognitive function and increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
More Beneficial to the Immune System
According to research, tobacco suppresses the immune system and is one of the causalities of preventable morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, it increases the risk of lung infection. Smokers have a higher risk of contracting several diseases, including AIDS. Smoking erodes the body’s natural resistance to disease and raises cancer risk.
Despite being considered a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes, studies have found that vaping may harm the immune system. For example, one study discovered that using e-cigarettes impairs bacterial clearance and changes the respiratory and immune systems. This may be due to the respiratory epithelium’s reduced expression of critical immune genes.
Less Harmful to the Lungs
A recent analysis of the effects of vaping on the lungs found that it is far less hazardous than smoking. This result aligns with the most recent recommendations and reflects the experience of millions of vape users. In addition, because aerosol contains much fewer chemicals than cigarette smoke, vaping aerosol lowers the number of toxins consumed.
The genes found in the nasal biopsies of smokers and e-cigarette users were compared to those found in nonsmokers. They found that all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, suppress genes involved in the immune system. However, E-cigarette use also reduced the expression of seven transcription factors common to smokers and e-cigarette users. One of the genes whose expression dropped the most was EGR1, whose expression decreased about 10-fold in e-cigarette users.
