Health studies cast shadow on weed

Massachusetts has often been described as a nanny state, cosseting its citizens with overprotective policies.

But sometimes the nanny takes a day off.

The commonwealth banned flavored tobacco and vapes in 2019 after a rise in suspected lung injuries from vaping.

The ban was aimed at protecting young people from the harms of tobacco and vaping.

“Massachusetts moved quickly to act on behalf of the children of the Commonwealth to modernize our laws that regulate tobacco,” then-Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo said in a statement.

The Legislature is now working on another bid to safeguard citizens from ingested evils. The Act to promote healthy alternatives to sugary drinks calls for an excise tax on distributors of certain drinks with added sugar and promoting healthy alternatives to such drinks. It’s reached the Study Order stage with the Joint Committee on Revenue.

The state wants us to be healthy and capable of taking deep breaths.

So what will Massachusetts do about marijuana?

As ABC News and other outlets reported, people who smoke marijuana were more likely to have certain types of lung damage than people who smoked cigarettes, according to a new study that reviewed lung scans of smokers. The researchers who led the study say their findings suggest smoking marijuana may be more harmful than people realize.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least one-fifth of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. The Bay State legalized weed in 2016.

Some health effects, such as brain development issues, high blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, have been studied. However, according to Dr. Albert Rizzo, lung doctor and chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, “We don’t know the longterm effects of marijuana as we do for the long-term effects of tobacco.”

But medical experts did sound the alarm on the dangers of weed before Massachusetts made it legal.

The Massachusetts Medical Society as well as 10 statewide physician specialty groups opposed Question 4 in 2016, the initiative that legalized recreational marijuana here.

James S. Gessner, M.D., president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, wrote in the Boston Herald: “marijuana is not harmless, and the risk of addiction is real. The mind-altering element in the drug, THC, is today four times stronger that it was in the 1980s, and according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), about 9 percent of those who use marijuana will become addicted. The rate jumps to 17 percent for those using it in their teens, and increases to 25 percent to 50 percent among daily users.“

Marijuana turned out to be a cash crop for Massachusetts

There are now some 434 recreational and 98 medical licensees in the state, pulling in $1.4 billion a year. But the accent isn’t on health — it’s on equity and inclusion within the industry.

We can expect more studies on the ill effects of weed to roll out. But can we expect Massachusetts to put health before revenue?