The health dangers of addictive e-cigarettes have recently been exposed to the general public with the recent deaths linked to vaping. JUUL itself has stopped selling flavored pods as an attempt to save face after being accused of targeting an underage audience. Recently, states, particularly Minnesota, have begun lawsuits against the company stating that it intentionally used marketing language to sell to the youth. However, there is still no regulation of cigarette use - a product that also causes nicotine addiction. Amidst this regulation of e-cigarettes but lack of regulation of nicotine in general, recent years have also brought about the gradual legalization of recreational marijuana. So, what is the real difference between these two drugs?
According to the CDC, e-cigarettes are, in theory, less harmful than regular cigarettes; e-cigarettes do not contain the cocktail of 7,000 toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke in combustible cigarettes. Instead, e-cigarettes heat up a liquid containing nicotine and serve it to the user in an aerosol form. However, the CDC warns that potentially harmful substances like "lead, volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing agents," which are likely causing the recent illnesses, can be found in e-cigarettes. But most of all, health organizations particularly warn against nicotine.
Both drugs, nicotine and marijuana, are defined as addictive substances that alter the brain's chemistry. Nicotine in tobacco and e-cigarettes imitate the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, binding to the same receptors. However, nicotine is not regulated in the body so it activates cholinergic neurons throughout the brain simultaneously, whereas natural acetylcholine would release small amounts in a regulated manner. The excess activity in the cholinergic pathways energizes the body and brain, which is why cigarettes cause users to feel energized.
THC in marijuana has a similar chemical structure to anandamide, classified as an endogenous cannabinoid. It is a naturally produced molecular neurotransmitter that plays a role in bodily functions like appetite, memory, pain, depression, and fertility, due to which it is aptly named the "bliss" molecule. Due to THC's structural similarity to anandamide, cannabinoid receptors that accept anandamide mistake THC for its natural counterpart and uptakes the drug. This is why marijuana affects appetite, memory, pain, and depression.
The chemical similarity between THC and nicotine lies in dopamine. This flood of dopamine is what causes the high or "buzz" produced by marijuana and cigarettes, or in this case e-cigarettes. Are both highs truly the same though?
Dr. J Wesley Boyd at Harvard Medical School conducted a study, comparing the addictiveness of three drugs, marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol. He found that 9% of marijuana users become addicted, while 32% and 15% of users become addicted to tobacco and alcohol, respectively. The study also shows that withdrawal symptoms appear much faster in tobacco and alcohol, compared to marijuana. Furthermore, there has been no conclusive evidence linking marijuana usage to cancer; rather, marijuana has shown positive results in pain management of certain cancers. Nevertheless, these facts seem to propose that, in fact, marijuana is safer than nicotine, and therefore both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. So why has nicotine and alcohol become a steady culture in American society while marijuana has been categorized as a schedule 1 illegal substance until now? The answer lies in America's sordid history with immigrants.
Around 1910, America experienced an influx of marijuana by Mexican immigrants. Despite nicotine having basically the same effects as marijuana, Americans vilified this "killer weed," claiming that Mexican immigrants were distributing it amongst American schoolchildren. The war against marijuana began as a racist endeavor to attack Mexican immigrants and have continued to disproportionally criminalize people of color in the present day.
Statistically, nicotine in any form, e-cigarettes or cigarettes, proposes a much greater health risk than marijuana does. In fact, the debate surrounding marijuana usage has blinded Americans to the detriments of nicotine in general. It seems counterintuitive to curb marijuana usage when nicotine addiction legally raves the streets. Although minors are now protected from its reach, who will inform the audience who believes in "killer weed" yet still smoke legal nicotine?