Does Smoking Weed Cause Acne? An Honest Look at the Evidence

Acne develops when pores become clogged, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Scientists are still working out why some people's skin is more prone to it, but hormones likely play a role: during puberty, hormones called androgens enlarge the skin's oil glands, which then make more oil that can clog pores. Family history matters too. If a parent or other close blood relative had deep, painful pimples, your risk of that type of acne is higher.

The AAD also lists things that can make existing acne worse: too little sleep, certain foods, and oily makeup, skin care or hair products. Stress cannot cause acne, it says, but it may worsen acne you already have.

Not one the AAD points to. Its overview of acne causes covers hormones, family history, cigarette smoking, stress, sleep, diet and skin and hair products, and cannabis is not on that list. That does not prove cannabis has no effect on skin; it means there is no established link to point to, so claims that weed directly causes breakouts go beyond the evidence.

What the evidence does support is a pair of indirect routes worth knowing about, both with real caveats.

Cannabis can increase appetite, and the munchies explainer covers why. In a 1988 residential-lab study, smoked cannabis raised daily calorie intake by 40%, almost entirely through extra snacks, led by sweet solid foods such as candy bars (Foltin and colleagues).

Diet and acne is where it gets uncertain. The AAD reports that small studies suggest a low-glycemic diet may reduce acne, and that high-glycemic foods, which raise blood sugar quickly (white bread, potato chips, fries, doughnuts and sugary drinks, for example), may worsen it. Some studies also link cow's milk to breakouts. But the AAD adds that other studies have found no connection between a high-glycemic diet and acne, and that more research is needed.

So the chain is plausible rather than proven: the snacking study did not measure skin, and the diet studies did not involve cannabis. The AAD's practical advice applies either way: notice whether a particular food seems to trigger breakouts, and see what happens when you skip it for a while.

Here the evidence is about tobacco, not cannabis. The AAD notes that studies have found smokers more likely to have acne than non-smokers, and that in one study of women with acne, those who smoked more cigarettes had more severe acne. It concludes that smoking cigarettes may trigger acne.

That matters if you mix tobacco in. A spliff is a joint rolled with tobacco, per Wikipedia, and traditional blunts are rolled in tobacco-leaf wraps from cigars, which Wikipedia notes carry the risks of tobacco use, including nicotine addiction. The weed slang glossary explains the difference between joints, spliffs and blunts.

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