Health effects of secondhand marijuana smoke

As more states, including Ohio, legalize recreational marijuana, there is still little research into its health effects. This includes a lack of research around secondhand marijuana smoke, according to University of Cincinnati researcher LaTrice Montgomery, PhD.

“A lot of the studies that are out now sort of draw from the tobacco industry,” Montgomery, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC's College of Medicine and a licensed clinical psychologist, told Local 12. 

The problem, Montgomery said, is that since marijuana and tobacco are different it is not known if it has the same risks on the heart and lungs that secondhand tobacco smoke does.

Montgomery said one National Institutes of Health study tested security workers for an outdoor concert venue who were exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke for several hours. There was detectible THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, in blood and urine samples, even at an outdoor event with circulating air.

“What they found is they did find a small, detectible level of THC within their blood levels, very small so they wouldn’t fail a drug test, but there were still levels there nonetheless,” said Montgomery. “They also found that the law enforcement officers were more likely to report itchy eyes, the burning red eyes, headaches, higher levels of anxiety, things we associate with cannabis use."

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Featured photo at top of marijuana leaves. Photo/Jeff W/Unsplash.