Exposure to fine particulate matter can exacerbate health problems especially for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, bronchitis, or COPD. Secondhand smoke from combusted marijuana contains fine particulate matter that can be breathed deeply into the lungss, i which can cause lung irritation asthma attacks, and makes respiratory infections more likely.Secondhand smoke exposure from marijuana can cause significant health issues including breathing problems. If marijuana smoking is allowed indoors in public places, both employees and patrons are at risk. Several peer-reviewed and published studies indicate that exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke can have health and safety risks for the general public, especially due to its similar composition to secondhand tobacco smoke. By including marijuana smoke, it effectively eliminates any potential confusion by clearly defining smoking as “inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, pipe, hookah, or any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation, including marijuana, whether natural or synthetic, in any manner or in any form.” Since 2010, ANR, our sister organization, provides model smokefree ordinances and policies which include marijuana as a product prohibited in smokefree environments. Therefore, it is important to strengthen all smokefree laws – both existing and new – to include marijuana in the definitions of smoking and vaping. Smoke is smoke and marijuana smoke is a form of indoor air pollution. Nobody should have to breathe secondhand marijuana smoke at work or where they live, learn, shop, or play. Just like traditional cigarettes, marijuana should be used in ways that don’t impact the health of others. Regardless of the debate of possible benefits of marijuana products, there is simply no need to use them inside shared air spaces (such as workplaces, public places, and multi-unit housing) where others are then subject to the hazardous secondhand smoke or secondhand aerosol from electronic smoking devices. At the same time, tobacco is starting to look a little more like marijuana – seeking to dovetail on any opportunity to renormalize smoking in social environments, like bars, and pushing to allow for indoor use of e-cigarettes and “vape pens” that can be used to consume both tobacco and marijuana products.Īs the marijuana industry grows and is legalized, health professionals are trying to keep up with the changes this entails for their communities, such as an increase in marijuana smoking and exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke. Therefore, it is not surprising that the growing marijuana industry is starting to look more like the tobacco industry – a commercial industry seeking to maximize sales, profits, and product consumption, and backed by marketing campaigns, lobbyists, and lawyers to shape regulation. The marijuana industry wants to accomplish this goal, in part, by borrowing tactics from Big Tobacco’s playbook and chipping away at smokefree protections. and it has one goal: to normalize marijuana use, including smoking, everywhere and to have it regulated “just like alcohol.” As the trend toward normalizing public smoking of marijuana grows, we need to be aware that more laws will likely be proposed to weaken smokefree protections and allow for broader use of smoking marijuana in public places and even in workplaces. A new industry for marijuana consumption is being created in the U.S. Many states have now legalized marijuana for medical (37) and/or recreational use (22 states and Guam), with many more considering it.
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