Despite being consumed by humans for thousands of years, cannabis remains a somewhat mysterious plant. The same joint that may ease one person into a soothing state of euphoria could jolt another into a hellish panic attack.
Complicating matters is the plant’s outlaw status. It remains federally illegal in the United States, deemed a Schedule 1 substance in the same category as heroin, requiring special permission from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to use in studies.
Despite the U.S. federal government’s strict stance, several American states have gone rogue and permitted recreational use, and even more states are considering it.
Canada will legalize recreational use nation-wide on October 17 and several other countries like Chile, Italy, Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay, and Colombia, have either decriminalized or legalized both medical and recreational use.
With many parts of the world shifting away from criminalizing cannabis, studies related to the plant are now being regularly conducted, with sometimes surprising and contradictory results.
As part of our Marijuana Files coverage, CityNews has delved into the wealth of established and emerging research on the topic. Here’s five interesting takeaways from our deep dive into marijuana, with links to 50 studies that shed new light on the physical, psychological, and societal effects of cannabis consumption. (Click the title for links)
For some, marijuana is synonymous with the munchies. The drug’s appetite-stimulating properties are the butt of countless stoner jokes. But it’s no laughing matter for people suffering from wasting illnesses, or going through chemotherapy treatments. So, does marijuana really cause weight gain? A 2014 report by Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience found that marijuana may indeed stimulate the appetite and aid in weight gain for people suffering from illnesses or undergoing cancer treatments, but in the general population, cannabis use is actually associated with a lower body mass index. The takeaway: Marijuana may help regulate a healthy body weight. “Marijuana may genuinely be a regulatory compound, increasing weight in those with low weight, but not in those who are normal or overweight,” the study concludes.
Back in the Reefer Madness days, citizens were led to believe that a single toke of marijuana had the potential to transform a formerly law-abiding citizen into a raging, homicidal maniac. That sensational depiction may have been debunked, but there are still concerns that marijuana will lead to more crime. Not so, says a 2018 study by Victoria University of Wellington and Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. In fact, they found that violent crimes and property crimes fell by 20 per cent in California after the state permitted medical marijuana usage. “We also find no evidence that heavy marijuana users commit property crime to fund addictions,” the study concluded. “Our results suggest that liberalization of marijuana laws is unlikely to result in the substantial social cost that some politicians clearly fear.
Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps may be one of the greatest athletes ever known to hit the bong, but don’t expect your own weed smoking habits to lead you to Olympic glory. That’s the conclusion from a study by the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. It found “no evidence of performance-enhancing” effects when it came to athletes and weed. But marijuana could help athletes in different ways. “Cannabis use has also recently been identified as helping athlete’s sleep time and recovery, which may favor performance when an athlete is facing multiple competitions in a short period,” the study notes.
So we’ve established that weed won’t make you a better athlete, but it could make you more active between the sheets according to research by The Journal of Sexual Medicine. It set out to study if there was a relationship between marijuana use and sexual frequency. Despite the stereotype that stoners are lazy, they seem to be quite energetic when it comes to sex. The study’s conclusion: “A positive association between marijuana use and sexual frequency is seen in men and women across all demographic groups.”
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