Marijuana or cigarettes

Marijuana is much less toxic or physically damaging than either alcohol or cigarettes. Furthermore, there may be beneficial "anti-aging" properties to THC itself.

Of course, it is better to be able to enjoy life without any "enhancements" but that might be difficult in the economically streamlined, maximum production, "assembly line" world we live in.

I smoked marijuana heavily in college and quit for two years, once I moved to Los Angeles. During that time I noticed dramatic symptoms of increased aging -- primarily increase in amount of hair and rate of hair growth on my body. Today I am almost 60 years old, but routinely play roles that require a 40 year old person. I am just starting to turn gray and I have all my hair. It is impossible to say what factors were an influence, but some of my non-smoking friends think it is the marijuana in addition to anti-oxident vitamins and a "mostly" vegan diet.

One big difference between cigarette smoke and marijuana smoke is that Nicotine has a "hook" in the physical structure of the molecule. This geometry actually "hooks into" fabric and soft tissues. That is what causes cigarette smoke to linger in fabrics and that is what causes lung cancer -- the hook. THC does not have the same geometry and does not "hook into" lung tissue. This is why marijuana smoke dissipates and does not linger in fabrics like cigarette smoke does.

Aside from that, there are many different strains of tobacco and the one used by American cigarette manufactures is just one type. Apparently there are tobacco plants in the Amazon basin that the smoke is hallucinogenic and the shamans use that tobacco in their rituals. Either way, it is best not to smoke at all.

copyright (c) 2017

William Schaeffer