As negative public opinions surrounding cannabis are negated, the cigarette just might be in danger – A quick look at history will reveal the influence of cigarettes in American culture. Any classic Hollywood movie shows a brave hero puffing a cigarette between his teeth. People could smoke in theaters and restaurants; cigarettes were offered around like mints. Paradoxically, marijuana was used to produce goods, such as sails and rope throughout the 17th century. The hemp plant continued its steady climb to industrial popularity after the Civil War, and health concerns were not brought up until the Great Depression when its recreational use was then outlawed in the United States. This allowed cigarettes to sit center stage for decades and become the iconic cultural norm. Everyone was a smoker; that is until cigarettes were revealed to be linked to lung cancer.
Suddenly, the paradigm shifted, and people were itching to find an alternative to their favorite habit. Now, with the Great Depression’s concerns disproved by modern medical findings, approximately 30 states and the District of Colombia have legalized the medicinal use of the drug as of 2018. This revelation leaves the tobacco industry with a rival like never before. Below is a list of how cannabis’ growing popularity continues to surpass that of tobacco.
1. Marijuana is Viewed as a Safer Alternative
Tobacco and Cannabis are two very different substances that have their own risks and ways in which they affect health, both physically and mentally. Smoking cigarettes has been found to kill 480,000 Americans each year as reported by the Center for Disease Control. This means that smoking cigarettes leads to more premature deaths than illegal drug use, car accidents, firearms, and HIV. Cigarettes are full of harmful chemicals, such as ammonia, benzene, and methanol. They also contain traces of arsenic, a known lethal substance.
A 2015 study by Emory University’s Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care reported that long-term marijuana usage was not directly correlated to the decrease of lung function or cancers of the lung, head or neck.
2. Cigarettes are Highly Addictive
Because cigarettes contain nicotine, they are highly addictive and people become dependent on this substance. Cigarette smokers tend to smoke more than marijuana users because of this issue. These reasons tend to make marijuana a more appealing option than addictive cigarettes.
3. Parents and Kids are Smoking Together
A survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and Monitoring the Future have reported on adolescent marijuana usage since the early 1970’s. They concluded that cannabis use soared to 37 percent by the late 1970s. It experienced a drop from the 1980s to the early 1990s when only 12.1 percent of high school seniors reported to be regular marijuana smokers, but this decline was short-lived. In 1997, that number almost doubled to 23.7 percent of high school seniors smoking marijuana. These subjects are likely old enough to have adolescent children of their own, and with the popularity of marijuana on the rise, they can join their of age children in smoking pot which is a rising trend in the United States today.
4. Has Been Known to Help with Anxiety and Depression
The nervous trembling that one might have experienced before a big event used to be quelled by a quick cigarette. Now, with the risks of that cigarette so well known, people are turning to marijuana to relieve these symptoms of anxiety. It can regulate stress levels, and make its users feel more relaxed. Because of the increase in knowledge surrounding the health risks of tobacco usage, more and more people are turning to cannabis as a stress-reliever.
5. People Prefer Marijuana to Cigarettes
A federal report cited by TIME Magazine says that more high school seniors are smoking weed every day than those that smoke cigarettes. For the first time since 1975, more people are smoking pot than cigarettes. Cigarette smoking has seen a decrease in adolescent usage, going from 6.7 percent in 2014 to 5.5 percent in 2015, according to the survey.
6. Big Time Tobacco Corporations Predicted Marijuana’s Economic Value
According to TIME Magazine, a perusal of company archives from the 1970’s point to the tobacco industry’s interest in marijuana. Tobacco executives felt that the ongoing debate about the use of marijuana would lead to legalization, and they realized the potential value of this business opportunity and did not want to miss out. As Canada readies itself to legalize recreational use of weed in July, the industry is likely to boom with exceptional profit. While the tobacco industry’s prediction about the date of legalization might have been off by several decades, the impact that this major decision will have from a revenue standpoint is undeniable.
7. Marijuana Has Gone Mainstream
Since the Great Depression when marijuana usage was federally prohibited in the United States, cultural perception about the drug was purely negative. With new research outlining the benefits of smoking the natural plant, people are no longer shying away from it. More than 20 million adults in the United States smoke at least once a year, and 35 million are smoking monthly, according to a survey conducted by Marist College and Yahoo News as reported by The Washington Post.
8. Pot Helps Manage Pain
The medicinal use of cannabis, such as to reduce chronic pain, has been legalized in 30 states. Dr. Mark Ware, a medical researcher at McGill University in Montreal directed a scientific experiment where he observed different patients with chronic nerve pain. Some of the patients were given a placebo, for control purposes, and others were given three doses of cannabis at differing levels of potency. Ware reported that, at the highest dose of 9.4 percent, a dosage considerably lower than that of recreational marijuana, patient’s pain was down 5.4 percent.
9. Perceptions About the Drug Strike Intrigue
Hollywood has painted a glittering picture surrounding cannabis. Their stories surrounding the drug amuse and grip their audiences. People are drawn to these stories as the country continues to fail to crack down on marijuana and its recreational use. They depict the world of cannabis as one of intrigue and happiness that appeals to people. In contrast, when cigarettes are portrayed on the screen in a modern-day film, tones and colors take a drab turn. Filmmakers often show cigarette smokers alone, trying to escape the story’s main conflicts. Whereas, those smoking pot are beaming with a group of friends.
10. Cigarette Smokers are 10 Times More Likely to Also Smoke Pot
Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health released a study in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in which they examined 700,000 subjects aged 12 and up from 2002-2014. They found a concrete correlation between cigarettes and cannabis. Cigarette smokers aged 26 and older were found to be 10 times more likely to also smoke pot than those who reported not smoking. And adolescent cigarette smokers ranging from 12 and 17 years old were found to be 50 times more likely to smoke weed than those who do not smoke.
The draw Americans have experienced to marijuana versus tobacco in recent years is clear to see. It seems that marijuana usage has increased numerous times over while cigarette usage has remained stagnant in comparison. And with more and more people choosing to smoke marijuana over cigarettes, and the restrictions on the use of cannabis becoming more relaxed, there is no question as to why big tobacco companies are choosing to invest in the marijuana industry. Cannabis just might be the new cigarette, ending a decades-long rivalry between these two iconic American symbols.
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