POT SMOKERS JUST AS HEALTHY

Frequent marijuana users devour up to 40% more calories than their peers but are no more likely to be fat, a new study suggests.
Americans aged 20 to 59 who smoked marijuana at least once a month indulged in more beer, liquor, potato chips, cheese and pork than non-users, researchers report in the journal Public Health Nutrition today.
The marijuana smokers also ate fewer fresh fruits or vegetables and smoked nearly three times as many tobacco cigarettes as non-users.  But the study found their habits were not a detriment to their nutritional health.

The marijuana users showed normal levels of vitamins and minerals in spite of their vices, and slightly lower body mass indexes than their peers.  ( Body mass index compares a person's weight to their height to gauge obesity ).
"That is the surprising finding," said Dr.  Ellen Smit, lead author of the study and a professor of medicine at the University at Buffalo.

One explanation is that smoking marijuana is thought to increase a person's metabolic rate.

The study examined the dietary and nutritional habits of about 11,000 marijuana users and non-users between the ages of 20 and 59, and appears in the journal Public Health Nutrition.