Health charities, academia should refuse pot funding

Smoking causes debilitating, lifeshortening lung disease. Because of this, tobacco-funded research is prohibited from international scientific publication, regardless of funding relationships. Most research and academic institutions do not accept funds from big tobacco or other industries that cause harm to human health.

It appears, however, that the newly legal cannabis industry in Canada is viewed with fewer ethical concerns, even though it also produces and markets a product that is mainly smoked. For many physicians and scientists, this is alarming and unacceptable.

We recently learned that University Health Network, University of Guelph, University of New Bruns- wick and University of British Columbia have accepted philanthropic and research funding from the cannabis industry. Even more concerning, The Lung Association-Ontario has recently accepted funding from the cannabis industry for research on cannabis effects on lung health. When we breathe in smoke, whether from a fire or cigarettes, smoke particles flow into the lung and are deposited along its 1,500 kilometres of airways and 500 million air sacs. This alerts the body to immediately respond to a smoke “foreign” invasion.

A complex process ensues and a never-ending cycle of inflammation and tissue repair results in irreversible lung damage. Some people, particularly women, are more prone to developing terminal lung disease from smoke.

Decades of research into the effects of smoke on lung health has resulted in a deep understanding of this devastating process. Evidence of the effects of smoke on lung health can be seen in Ontario hospitals where 1-in-4 beds is needed by patients with smokingrelated lung disease, who account for one in three physician and emergency room visits.

The impact of smoking on lung health is clear and incontrovertible. Since the active ingredient in cannabis (THC) is known to open airways, the potential for even greater damage (compared to tobacco) looms large.

Facing a declining market, big tobacco has initiated purchases of Canadian cannabis companies, the market for which is still growing. This means any cannabis-funded research or philanthropy carries the reputational risk of big tobacco.

Finally, the legalization of recreational cannabis has not resulted in restricted marketing or packaging. Nor have the lung health risks of smoking cannabis been widely communicated. By accepting cannabis donations, we normalize, legitimize and elevate an industry that financially benefits while harming human health.

While the full impact of cannabis smoking will only be gleaned over the next decades, it is our obligation and responsibility to deglamorize smoking and call out industries that market smoking products and those that partner with them. Grace Parraga is a professor and David G. McCormack is a professor and chair of the division of respirology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.