9 Scientific Reasons You Should NEVER Smoke Weed (Like, Ever)

There's many reasons to love smoking marijuana: It can help you relieve stress, make your cramps better, and even improve your sex life. But before you go and roll a blunt, keep in mind that there are still many reasons to stay far away from it.

1. It's bad for your heart.

As kill joy as the reality is, smoking weed has the potential to raise your heart rate and blood pressure. Smoking pot can increase your heart rate by as much as double for several hours.

2. It messes with your IQ.

According to a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, heavy marijuana use during your teen years can lead to permanent decline in IQ. Heavy use actually alters your brain.

3. It's bad for athletes.

Marijuana has been shown to diminish your power output and responsiveness, which can be quite an issue in athletic competitions. Research has shown responsiveness and endurance can be impaired when smoking, as is recovery.

4. It hampers your mental clarity.

A study of pilots under the influence (we sure are glad we weren't on those planes) showed that marijuana increased both minor AND major errors. The authors studied the effects of marijuana intoxication on the ability of 10 certified airplane pilots to operate a flight simulator.

The researchers found that all 10 pilots showed a significant decrease in measurements of flying performance 30 minutes after smoking active marijuana. For a group of six pilots tested sequentially for six hours, a decrease in flying performance continued for two hours after smoking the active drug. That's so scary.

5. It drains your energy.

Pot is known to have energy-draining effects. It's basically the opposite of caffeine, so your "get up and go" will just leave. This might make you less productive or ambitious.

6. It's awful for your lungs.

It's not only smoking cigarettes that are terrible for our lungs; weed is really bad, too. In fact, smoking pot has a lot of the same toxic risks as smoking tobacco. So even if you think marijuana is "safer," consider the risks.

7. It's illegal and heavily regulated.

Yes, marijuana laws have eased in many states over the past few years, but it's still heavily regulated and illegal in many places. Why risk getting in trouble?

8. It can put your safety at risk.

You may have the nicest dealer in the world. They may bake cookies by day, but there's probably crime somewhere in that food chain and you run the risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

9. It depletes your savings.

Trying to save money for a new car? Why smoke your savings away? Recreational weed is expensive and there's much better things you can spend your money on. Like, things that aren't short-term.