Scuba Diving and Recreational Cannabis Use

The topic I have chosen relates to safety for recreational cannabis users and scuba diving. Many countries around the world are retooling their wars on drugs and decriminalizing and legalizing recreational cannabis use. For example, recreational cannabis use is legal in Uruguay, Canada and North Korea (Simpson, 2020). Additionally, as of of November 4, 2020, recreational cannabis use is fully legal in sixteen states in the United States, but is still federally prohibited (Disa, 2020). Figure 1 shows the jurisdictions in the USA where marijuana is legal.

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), in 2018, there were approximately 2.8 million certified scuba divers in the USA (SFIA, 2019). Issues of cannabis intoxication and diving have been explored in the past, and the general recommendation is to not going diving within 2-3 hours after smoking cannabis and 6-8 hours after ingesting cannabis (Meintjes, 2019). In general, drug use (prescription and street drugs) are not recommended for people who are actively scuba diving due to impairment, reduced function of motor skills and gas mixtures in scuba tanks can create hazards to divers’ safety (Martin, 2018).

This topic does not contain many peer review articles when searching PubMed. The keywords I am using may need modification because the word “scuba diving” only produces 92 results. When scuba diving is connected to drugs, only 1 relevant article appears and it discusses scuba diving while using hypertension medication. I may need to broaden the scope of my research to discuss the general hazards associated with scuba diving while on any type of drug— prescribed, legal and illegal.

References

Disa (2020). MAP OF MARIJUANA LEGALITY BY STATE: WONDERING WHAT THE LAW IS IN YOUR STATE? Houston, Disa Global Solutions [online] Available at https://disa.com/map-of-marijuana-legality-by-state (last visited on January 13, 2020)

Martin, S. (2018). POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF DRUGS ON DIVERS. BCMJ, VOL. 60, NO. 4. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. [online] Available at https://bcmj.org/worksafebc/potential-effects-drugs-divers (last visited on January 13, 2021)

Meintjes, J. (2019). Cannabis and Diving. Alert Diver Online. Durham, Divers Alert Network. [online] Available at http://alertdiver.com/Cannabis-and-Diving (last visited on January 13, 2020)

Simpson, V. (2020). Countries Where Cannabis Is Legal. Quebec, WorldAtlas, Reunion Technology Inc. [online] Available at https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-where-cannabis-is-legal.html (last visited on January 13, 2020)

SFIA (2019). 2019 Sports, Fitness, and Leisure Activities Topline Participation Report. Silver Spring, Sports & Fitness Industry Assocatin. [online] Available at https://www.sfia.org/reports/707_2019-Sports%2C-Fitness%2C-and-Leisure-Activities-Topline-Participation-Report (last visited on January 13, 2020)