FAQ

No, as of now, recreational cannabis is not legal. Only medical cannabis is permitted.

Patients with a qualifying medical condition and a valid medical marijuana card.

No, home cultivation is not currently allowed, even for medical patients.

Possession of small amounts can result in fines and possible jail time, though some cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have decriminalized small amounts.

According to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base:

"Compared to most other drugs ... dependence among marijuana users is relatively rare ... [A]lthough few marijuana users develop dependence, some do. But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs."

According to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine: 1999 report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base:

"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs ... There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect ... Instead, the legal status of marijuana makes it a gateway drug."

The World Health Organization noted that any gateway effect associated with marijuana use may actually be due to marijuana prohibition because "exposure to other drugs when purchasing cannabis on the black-market, increases the opportunity to use other illicit drugs."

In a word: no. Marijuana is not more dangerous than tobacco. Research has shown that marijuana causes far less harm than tobacco.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, tobacco was responsible for 435,000 deaths in 2000, or nearly 1,200 deaths per day. On the other hand, marijuana has never caused a fatal overdose in more than 5,000 years of recorded use.

It is important to note that the act of smoking anything is harmful to the lungs, and in this regard, marijuana is not completely benign. According to Understanding Marijuana (2002), by Mitch Earleywine, marijuana smokers sometimes exhibit symptoms similar to those experienced by tobacco smokers — coughing, wheezing, and bronchitis.

However, these harms can be minimized by ingesting marijuana orally, with devices known as vaporizers, or by using higher-potency marijuana, which reduces the harms associated with smoking while still delivering marijuana's medical benefits.

Other research shows that daily marijuana use does not lead to increased rates of respiratory illness, and that smoking both tobacco and marijuana is worse than smoking just one.

Unlike tobacco, research has never shown that marijuana increases rates of lung cancer or other cancers usually associated with cigarette smoking. In a 10-year, 65,000-patient study conducted at the Kaiser-Permanente HMO and published in 1997, cigarette smokers had much higher rates of cancer of the lung, mouth, and throat than non-smokers, but marijuana smokers who didn't smoke tobacco had no such increase. And in May 2006, Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA presented results of a new study showing that even very heavy marijuana smokers had no increased risk of lung cancer.

Marijuana smokers do not have an increased risk of premature death or cancer. According to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base:

"There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use. ... More definitive evidence that habitual marijuana smoking leads or does not lead to respiratory cancer awaits the results of well-designed case control epidemiological studies."