It'll also be interesting to see how things like dry herb vapes differ, they basically just heat the cannabis to 350-400 degrees where the cannabinoids and terpenes vaporize without burning it, they seem like the best way to go if you want a reasonably good dose control and safety margin at the moment. Avoids many of the issues with concentrate vapes, flavorings, cheap heating coils, etc but I still have some doubts on perfect safety there.
it is known not to be harmless. it can cause cardiovascular issues. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2006.08.001
Subjective perspective - smoking is really bad, can be dramatically improved with good vaping but its still harmful. One of the great side effects of legalization - health-conscious people have less damaging options for consumption. Eliminated by eating the material, but then effects are a bit different. There have been some rumors on lower sperm count/lowered movement, not sure if related more to smoking any material or something in cannabis causing it. For short term buzz maybe some nasal spray would be great (again, legalization can help this get done properly).
Then there are mental effects - people are mentally incapacitated, usually even day after is felt, short term memory negatively impaired. Long term frequent usage leads to mild dependence, which can be given up much easier compared to ie cigarettes. Can trigger dormant mental illnesses, and amplify them with long term usage (I guess paranoia is the most common one, schizophrenics would be also bad - same can be achieved with any other drug including alcohol, or big shock like car crash).
Side effects of behavior can be quite destructive too - 'munchies' cravings for unhealthy food (sweet, fried etc) - long term disastrous for health just like any other overeating.
I can't think of anything else right now, but for sure there is something else. Overall relatively low harm, especially when things like alcohol and tobacco roam civilization almost freely
The issue here is the initial research consistently shows us the opposite - frequent cannabis use appears to cause developmental delay and may cause _irreversible_ mental illness in adolescents that is in at least one case worse than alcohol.
Let's take Schizophrenia as an example:
Increased Risk of Schizophrenia from Alcohol and drugs:
Cannabis: 5.2 times
Alcohol: 3.4 times
Hallucinogenic drugs: 1.9 times
Sedatives: 1.7 times
Amphetamines: 1.24 times
Other substances: 2.8 times
Direct link to study - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medici...
Since the brain doesn't fully develop until 25 I don't disagree that alcohol and other legal substances are dangerous for adolescents but from the initial research we are seeing Cannabis is in some cases more damaging than alcohol and requires further study.
> smoking marijuana is harmless
The opposite. Consuming (know your dosage, know your substance) can have a variety of health benefits.
It is worth noting there a known side-effects too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis#Impact_on_psy...