what are the different effects marijuana will have on your body if you inhale it vs. a suppository?

Danielle Z

As far as I have researched you can't physically get addicted to marijuana, but you can get addicted mentally. You might be dependent on it but nothing in it, like nicotine in cigarettes, makes you physically need it. There are still different harms it has on your body, though.

Smoking:
Inhaling any smoke is going to end up having a negative effect on your respiratory system. The article I found stated that marijuana smoke contains over 4000 chemicals and over 50 of those chemicals can cause cancer. The article also compared these chemicals to those in tobacco smoke, but stated the marijuana smoke is worse for your respiratory system because it is inhaled longer, deeper, and smoked to a shorter butt. Marijuana smoke leads to a higher carbon monoxide concentration, more tar, higher levels of ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide in a persons respiratory tract. Having these chemicals inhaled over a long period of time can lead to an increase in cough, sputum production, airway inflammation, and wheeze. The article also brought up that many marijuana smokers tend to smoke tobacco as well which increases risk of respiratory complications. While marijuana smoke contains double, if not more, of certain carcinogens that tobacco smoke contains it is not known to directly lead to lung or any upper respiratory lung cancer, surprisingly.

Suppository:
Unlike inhaling a suppository will have no negative effects on your respiratory system. I couldn't find very many negative effects of suppositories. One article said suppositories are the most effective medical marijuana use. They are good for people who should not be inhaling smoke and regulated better. These are often the way doctors will prescribe medical marijuana. It will only be harmful if done illegally, but at least they won't hurt your body as much. If these are made and done illegally they can be dangerous. Most people that do it illegally are younger people that do it so they can hide the smell of the smoke or don't want their eyes to be bloodshot.

Sources:
http://adai.uw.edu/marijuana/factsheets/respiratoryeffects.htm
http://www.marijuanadoctors411.com/medical-marijuana-uses-suppositories/