Surprising new study says marijuana alters human genes in ways similar to smoking cigarettes

If you haven't noticed, marijuana use is on the rise. Whether it's chronic pain relief, sleep aid, anxiety, glaucoma, seizure control, muscle spasms, or just recreational, there are plenty of arguments to be made in its favor. But, as with pretty much every thing that people claim to be the best thing ever, there's usually a caveat. A study of the affects on the body with cannabis use found similar concerns to those with smoking cigarettes.

The study sought to uncover how cannabis affects the genetic code. If so, were there potential positive or negative affects relating to health concerns. Researchers found marijuana’s impact was more far-reaching than earlier believed.

  Young woman smokes marijuana.Image via Canva - Photo by pixeshot

The epigenetic code

The National Library of Medicine explains epigenetics as the study into cells controlling gene activity without changing the actual DNA sequence. It writes, "Environmental influences, such as a person’s diet and exposure to pollutants, can impact the epigenome."

Why is that important?

Changes to the code have influences upon age related illness like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and cardiovascular disease. A study on Epigenetics of aging and disease: a brief overview writes, "Several studies showed that an impairment of epigenetic mechanisms promotes alteration of gene expression underlying several aging-related diseases."

Cigarette Smoke

It's well established that smoking cigarettes is a substantial threat to human health on a global scale. There are many studies much like The role of cigarette smoke-induced epigenetic alterations in inflammation, that show smoking leads to epigenetic alterations. These alterations that cause serious risk for respiratory, cardiovascular, lung, colon, and other disease.

Study on Marijuana use

  Woman smokes marijuana on bed.Image via Canva - Photo by Joshua Resnick

It's a lot of science talk, but simply put, a person's genes can be affected. Those affects can cause physical changes in the body. Those changes can lead to age related health concerns. Studies show cigarette smoke does this. A new study published in Molecular Psychiatry claims marijuana use does also.

As reported in Northwestern Medicine, "In our study, we observed associations between cumulative marijuana use and multiple epigenetic markers across time,” said Lifang Hou, the senior author of the study who went on to say, “Interestingly, we consistently identified one marker that has previously been associated with tobacco use, suggesting a potential shared epigenetic regulation between tobacco and marijuana use. The observed marijuana markers were also associated with cell proliferation, infection and psychiatric disorders, however, additional studies are needed to replicate and verify these findings.”

Older woman smokes marijuana.

 Giphy 

Drew Nannini, DO, PhD, first author on the study said, “This research has provided novel insights into the association between marijuana use and epigenetic factors.” Nannini goes on to say, "Additional studies are needed to determine whether these associations are consistently observed in different populations. Moreover, studies examining the effect of marijuana on age-related health outcomes may provide further insight into the long-term effect of marijuana on health.”

  Cannabis.Image via Canva - Photo by Yarphoto

A large majority of Americans advocate for the legalization of marijuana on a Federal level.

 The Pew Research Center writes, "Around nine-in-ten U.S. adults say either that marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use (54%) or that it should be legal for medical use only (33%)."

The simple truth, there is still much research needed into the broad and long term affects of marijuana. Questions on long-term brain effects, vaping vs. smoking vs. edibles, impacts on pregnancy, cardiovascular health, interactions with medications, effects on aging, and others are all yet to be substantially evidenced.