3. Results and discussion

3.1 Emerging trends in marijuana intake techniques

The effects induced on users by cannabis once consumed are largely dependent on the method of delivery. There exist three major cannabis delivery techniques including inhalation, oral and topical, that has been frequently applied in different occasions with each method having various designed techniques that offer unique functions and results.11 Smoking and vaporization are the most prevalent ancient customary inhalation methods that are commonly used and involves the use of hand pipes, water pipes, paper rolls (joints/ blunts), hooker and shisha (Table 1).12 On the other hand, vaporization technique encompass the usage of vaporizers that steadily heat up cannabis herbs to temperatures high enough to extract THC, CBD and other cannabinoids but too low to expedite the release of harmful toxins such as benzene and toluene as well as odor, which are emitted thereby presumably, lowering the associated health risks throughout marijuana smoking duration.13 This technique is widely used and differs from traditional smoking given that it does not involve combustion. For this reason therefore, vaporization method is considered safer in that it minimizes exposure to the potentially harmful marijuana smoke effluents that could be carcinogenic and toxic to the health of both active and passive smokers. A range to marijuana ingestion methods and their popularity is reported in Table 1.
Table 1 : Marijuana consumption techniques and popularity trends