According to the American Lung Association (“Marijuana and Lung Health”), “Smoking marijuana clearly damages the human lung. Research shows that smoking marijuana causes chronic bronchitis, and marijuana smoke has been shown to injure the cell linings of the large airways, which could explain why smoking marijuana leads to symptoms such as chronic cough, phlegm production, wheeze and acute bronchitis.”

A reported 22.2 million people in the U.S. use marijuana each month, and a large percentage of the chronic users within that group are at risk for serious pulmonary-related complications. 

Secondhand marijuana smoke presents additional complications for others exposed, according to the American Lung Association (“Secondhand Marijuana Smoke Facts”).

People who are “exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke can have detectable levels of THC [the psychoactive compound in marijuana] in their systems.” 

Secondhand marijuana smoke has many of the same “toxic substances and carcinogens” as tobacco smoke and can have “similar negative impacts on cardiovascular health,” or worse.  “Exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke created longer-lasting effects on blood vessel function than exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.”

These fumes and vapors “can easily be inhaled by children,” the most innocent of victims, who are present in areas where it is smoked or vaped.

“Marijuana is not a harmless drug, nor is the pot industry made up of responsible corporate citizens. Researchers in Colorado called 400 marijuana dispensaries, pretending to be 8 weeks pregnant and experiencing nausea. Seventy percent of the stores recommended THC products, ignoring the risks of marijuana use during pregnancy” (Kennedy, Sabet – Wall Street Journal, Jun 14, 2018).

The CDC (“Marijuana and Public Health”) has issued this advisory: “Using marijuana during pregnancy may increase the baby’s risk for developmental problems.”

“Marijuana is not a benign drug, especially for teens. Their brains are still developing, and marijuana can cause abnormal and unhealthy changes,” according to a study in the New American Academy of Pediatrics (Feb 27, 2017).  Adolescents who are regular users can develop “serious mental health disorders such as addiction, depression and psychosis,” due to the highly potent products on the market today. The concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in marijuana plants, has increased from “roughly 4 percent in 1995 to 12 percent in 2014, and current strains contain concentrations as much as 20 percent – increasing the risk of overdose and addiction.

American College of Pediatricians (ACP), April 2017, also confirmed that “Marijuana is addicting, has adverse effects upon the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardio-respiratory disease and testicular cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes…. THC suppresses neurons in the information-processing system of the hippocampus, thus learned behaviors, dependent on the hippocampus, also deteriorate.”

The ACP strongly opposes the legalization of marijuana “for recreational use and urges extreme caution in legalizing it for medicinal use.”

It is critically important for South Dakota’s state and local elected officials to protect the rights of non-users, to remain free of any secondary exposure to medical marijuana smoke or vapors, or other related by-products. 

Our elected officials should support, in principle, that “Medical marijuana users shall not, knowingly or unknowingly, expose non-using citizens to any smoke or vaping fumes, or inadvertently or intentionally expose non-users to ingestible forms of marijuana or its derivatives.”