Cigarette smoking is the leading contributor to preventable deaths in the United States. Many people think that smoking marijuana is safer than smoking cigarettes because relatively less marijuana is smoked. However, marijuana contains many of the same harmful chemicals as cigarettes, in addition to the psychoactive compound THC. THC is also present in hashish and hash oil, both of which are derived from the marijuana plant.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among Americans, according to the 2003 National Survey on Use and Health (NSDUH). More than forty percent of Americans – 94 million – aged 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once.

In recent years, marijuana has become embroiled in legal battles concerning its use as a medicinal for people who suffer from glaucoma or nausea due to chemotherapy. A number of states, including California, have passed laws that physicians can legally prescribe marijuana to their patients. These laws, however, stand in direct contrast to federal drug laws, which still maintain that the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana is a crime. While the legal issues continue to wind through the courts and ballot boxes, researchers are also continuing to study the effects of illicit marijuana use.

Because it is smoked, usually without a filter, marijuana deposits tar and other carcinogens into the lungs, the same as cigarettes. Most researchers believe that this will increase the risk of lung cancer, especially considering that marijuana smoke has up to four times as much tar and 50 percent more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. However, studies have yet to show that marijuana actually increases overall lung cancer mortality. This is probably because many marijuana users also smoke cigarettes, and many marijuana users smoked for a period in their youths then quit. Similarly, marijuana smokers are considered at increased for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, although no documented cases specifically linking marijuana with COPD have been found. Heavy marijuana smokers, who consume three to four marijuana cigarettes daily, experience the same cough, wheezing and sputum production of a pack-a-day smoker.

Finally, marijuana is known to increase the heart rate (e.g., tachycardia). This may worsen underlying heart disease or aggravate existing high blood pressure. One study has shown that the risk of suffering a heart attack increases almost five times in the hour after smoking marijuana. People with existing heart disease are strongly encouraged to avoid marijuana.

Ecstasy, the synthetic drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA], is produced in illegal underground labs.It has been associated as a “club drug” (i.e., taken at clubs, parties and concerts) that acts as a stimulant.  Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) noted that drug use appears to be following the pattern of addictive drugs and moving into the general population. In 2004, the NSDUH estimated that 13.8 percent of Americans 12 years and older had tried Ecstasy in their lifetime.

Users report a variety of effects, from pleasant acceptance of self and others to psychotic breaks, sweating, shaking, chills and collapse. As a mild stimulant, Ecstasy is associated with hours of intense physical activity. The dangers of this effect are compounded by the drug itself, which raises blood pressure and reduces pumping efficiency of the heart. Additional doses can worsen the effects due to the body’s slow breakdown of the drug. It has been linked to extreme elevation of body temperature and heart failure. High blood pressure, arrhythmia and inefficient blood pumping can all lead to heart failure and death.