Sakas, M. E. (2019, October 22). Questions Raised Over Whether The Cannabis Industry Is Contributing To Air Pollution. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.npr.org/2019/10/22/772368829/questions-raised-over-whether-the-cannabis-industry-is-contributing-to-air-pollu.

 

There are questions whether the cannabis industry is contributing to air pollution or not. Since cannabis has not been federally legalized yet, it is very hard to measure this since there is still some illegal use that needs to be taken into consideration. Cannabis includes organic compounds called terpenes. These terpenes are considered VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). VOCs are in many other products like paint and nail polish remover. These VOCs aren’t harmful unless they are combined with other gases. If these VOCs mix with other gases they form ozone, a harmful form of air pollution. It is also very hard to measure even in states where it is legally because different types of cannabis release different amounts of terpenes.

 

This article was very interesting to me as I had no clue that cannabis could have such an effect on the environment. I have never heard much about cigarettes affecting air pollution, so I always just assumed it must be the same, but apparently it’s not. I wonder if this idea has any influence on states or the national government’s decision to make it legal. If something is eventually found about the correlation between cannabis and air pollution, I would expect states that have legalized it or the federal government to possibly step in, as we don’t need another factor adding to our pollution problem