Cannabis Myths Quiz

Smoking cannabis is just as bad as smoking cigarettes
- Fact
- Myth
  ##
  Myth! A study of 350 Australian adults over 40 years old investigated health patterns associated with long-term use of cannabis and tobacco (Rooke et al., 2013). The participants were split into 4 groups, those who used only cannabis, those who used only tobacco, those who used a combination of cannabis and tobacco, and a control group who used neither cannabis or tobacco (Rooke et al., 2013). These group classifications were based on their use in the previous 5 years (Rooke et al., 2013). The results of these surveys found that those who used tobacco (either with or without cannabis) experienced worse health outcomes than those who only used cannabis (Rooke et al., 2013).
  
  Rooke, S. E., Norberg, M. M., Copeland, J., & Swift, W. (2013). Health outcomes associated with long-term regular cannabis and tobacco smoking. Addictive Behaviours, 38(6), 2207-2213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.01.013
  
  ##
Cannabis is more harmful than alcohol
- Fact
- Myth
  ##
  Myth! In 2009 the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) created a new classification system for the harm of drugs (Weissenborn & Nutt, 2012). This classification system considers the physical, psychological, and social harms both to the user of the drugs and to others (Weissenborn & Nutt, 2012). Each drug received a score out of 100, with zero meaning not at all harmful, and 100 meaning the most harmful (Nutt et al., 2010). Alcohol was found to be the most dangerous drug in the classification with a score of 72, while cannabis had a significantly lower score of 20 (Nutt et al., 2010).
  
  Nutt, D. J., Prof, King, L. A., PhD, Phillips, L. D., PhD, on behalf of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, & Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. (2010). Drug harms in the uk: A multicriteria decision analysis. The Lancet (British Edition), 376(9752), 1558-1565. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6
  
  Weissenborn, R., & Nutt, D. J. (2012). Popular intoxicants: What lessons can be learned from the last 40 years of alcohol and cannabis regulation? Journal of Psychopharmacology (Oxford), 26(2), 213-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881111414751
  ##
If you hold in smoke you will get more high
- Myth
  ##
  Myth! A controlled smoking study of 7 regular cannabis consumers found that breathholding of cannabis smoke enhanced absorption only up to 10 seconds (Azorlosa et al., 1995). The increased length of breath-holding is associated with increased tar in the lungs (McClure et al., 2012). Canada’s lower-risk cannabis use guidelines recommend avoiding breath-holding as this results in more toxic material being consumed (Fischer et al., 2017).
  
  Azorlosa, J. L., Greenwald, M. K., & Stitzer, M. L. (1995). Marijuana smoking: Effects of varying puff volume and breathhold duration. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 272(2), 560-569. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7853169/
  
  Fischer, B., Russell, C., Sabioni, P., Van Den Brink, W., Le Foll, B., Hall, W., Rehm, J. & Room, R. (2017). Lower-risk cannabis use guidelines: A comprehensive update of evidence and recommendations. American Journal of Public Health, 107(8), e1-e12. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303818
  
  McClure, E. A., Stitzer, M. L., & Vandrey, R. (2012). Characterizing smoking topography of cannabis in heavy users. Psychopharmacology, 220(2), 309-318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2480-4
  
  ##
- Fact
You won’t get high the first time you try cannabis
- Fact
- Myth
  ##
  Myth! There are many factors that can influence whether or not someone feels high after consuming cannabis for the first time, and for each consumer these are different (Grotenhermen, 2003). There is little research to explain why some people feel certain psychoactive effects after first time cannabis use, and others do not; sociologist Howard Becker proposed that this is due to two reasons: the user may not have consumed it properly, or the consumer did not know what to expect when feeling high (Becker, 1953).
  
  Becker, H. S. (1953). Becoming a marihuana user. American journal of Sociology, 59(3), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1086/221326
  
  Grotenhermen, F. (2003). Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 42(4), 327-360. https://doi.org/10.2165/00003088-200342040-00003
  ##
Consuming the stems will make you sick/give you a headache
- Fact
- Myth
  ##
  Myth! The stems and roots of cannabis have been used historically in Chinese medicine to treat medical conditions such as strangury, and pain (Jin et al., 2020). A study conducted in 2020 examined the secondary metabolites found in cannabis and found that triterpenoids and sterols found in the stem bark and roots have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anti-osteoarthritic properties (Jin et al., 2020).
  
  Jin, D., Dai, K., Xie, Z., Chen, J. (2020). Secondary Metabolites Profiled in Cannabis Inflorescences, Leaves, Stem Barks, and Roots for Medicinal Purposes. Scientific Reports 10, 3309 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60172-6
  
  ##

Cannabis Myths Quiz

List of questions