Good News for Pot Smokers

A UM Study Eases Some Legalization Concerns

As U.S. states continue to legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes, a new study at the University of Miami reduces at least one worry – that pot smokers are more sedentary and less inclined to exercise, leaving them prone to obesity and other “adverse health conditions.” 

Michael T. French and Karoline Mortensen of UM’s Herbert Business School, along with Manuel Alcalá Kovalski of the Brookings Institution, examined data from more than 20,000 subjects that tracked their behavior from high school to their late 30s. They found no evidence that pot smokers avoided exercise; if anything, the opposite effect was the case. 

French is now studying the relationship between pot smoking and pain control. Early findings show less traffic fatality rates in states that permit marijuana use, which he believes comes from marijuana use replacing “other self-medicating substances” like alcohol or opioids.