Is smoking pot unhealthy? Can you OD? Doctors answer questions about marijuana use

With the passage of Issue 2 in November, it will soon be legal to possess, grow and eventually purchase marijuana.

Marijuana won't be sold in retail stores until months after the law takes effect Dec. 7. But use and possession among adults becomes legal that day, and many potential consumers might be wondering if marijuana is safe.

To find out, The Enquirer reached out to physicians certified by the state to recommend medical marijuana and experienced in advising patients on the plant’s health effects.

Here's who responded:

• Dr. Geoff Rose, who runs Observatory Primary Care in Cincinnati's Hyde Park neighborhood.

• Dr. James Weeks of One Heart Medical in Cincinnati's Columbia Tusculum neighborhood.

• Dr. Hal Blatman, founder and medical director of the Blatman Health and Wellness Center in Blue Ash.

Here are our questions and their responses, which have been edited for brevity and clarity:

Is it unhealthy to smoke marijuana?

Rose: “I don’t think putting any smoke in your lungs is a good idea."

Blatman: "I've got to agree that smoking and putting things in your lungs when you have COPD is probably not a good idea. And when you have asthma (it) is probably not a good idea. And if you're interested in preserving the best of lung function, smoking is probably not a good idea. But we know that people recover from years of tobacco smoking, people must be able to recover from years of marijuana smoking."

Weeks: A good-quality dry herb vaporizer can reduce respiratory irritant by as much as 75%, by gently heating the plant material to produce a vapor instead of smoke.

"Other more simplistic ways to clean those products up would be like using a pipe with water filtration or...they've got even filter tips, almost like what you would see on a typical nicotine cigarette."

What medical conditions might clash with marijuana use?

Rose: People prone to heightened anxiety or panic attacks, cardiac arrhythmia (a condition characterized by abnormal heart rhythm), addiction and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, should consider avoiding marijuana use.

Weeks: A preexisting heart condition doesn’t necessarily preclude someone from using marijuana, but they probably should use a lower quantity of THC or a product that has a “sedating effect.”

Young adults with family histories of schizophrenia or psychosis, and who have gone undiagnosed, may start to experience stronger symptoms after using marijuana.

Blatman: “Until you actually step up to the plate and swing the bat, you really don’t know how it changes and affects you. And so it may take some experimentation, or we call that trial and error, to arrive at the right formula for you. There's no blanket rule of thou shalt never prescribe for this or that."

Is all marijuana the same?

Blatman: Marijuana strains are categorized as sativa, indica or hybrid.

"The differences are reasonably subtle. Indica makes you more tired, sativa is going to tend to keep you awake, a hybrid is going to be in the middle."

Is there a difference between edibles and smoking?

Weeks: "The reason why I would recommend (inhaling cannabis) as a doctor...would be because it's just novel in that it's so fast acting, like it takes effect in seconds to minutes."

"The other thing that's worth bringing up about it is that it is technically more predictable for the person because when you take edibles there's often about a one-hour delay."

Blatman: "Edibles have the slowest onset of action and the longest duration of action. Inhalation has the quickest onset of action and the shortest duration of action. Tincture is in the middle, because it's gonna go under your tongue, it's going to be between lungs and gut in both of those parameters.”

Can you overdose on marijuana?

Blatman: "If you look at it from a potential harm standpoint, the only way you can overdose on marijuana is to eat it. You can't overdose through your lungs. It's really hard to overdose on a tincture. But you can certainly overdose if you use a high concentration when you eat it."

"Even if you overdose, the worst that can happen to you is that you pass out which is another way for saying fall asleep. You might throw up. You wake up the next day, you might still be in an altered state of consciousness."

What should first-time marijuana users consider?

Rose: "Environment is important."

People should use cannabis in the right setting with the right people to mitigate any possible negative effects, like panic attacks.

Blatman: "I would start with going to a dispensary and asking questions and learning. Ask all the questions you could possibly imagine and then maybe leave without buying anything and go to another dispensary and ask more questions. The people in the dispensary are supposedly able to answer questions even better than your doctor."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio marijuana law: Doctors answer questions about use affects health