By Duke London

 

On Wednesday, the Global Drug Survey released the 2017 edition of their annual report on worldwide drug trends. There was a plethora of fascinating data included in the report, but one topic in particular was striking in its extreme contrast — the varying societal acceptance of spliffs from country to country.

For the potentially uninformed American reader, a spliff most often defines either a joint or blunt filled with a mixture of cannabis and tobacco. However, in many smoking circles, a spliff simply refers to a joint — those circles also tend to mix tobacco into their joints, so we’ll just refer to the mixed joints as spliffs to easily differentiate.

The survey asked nearly 70,000 cannabis users a series of questions related to their personal use of the plant, including frequency of use, motives for smoking, typical time of day that they use cannabis, and many more. When the participants were asked if they use tobacco directly with their cannabis, the results were staggering.

In the United States, just 8 percent of responding marijuana users sprinkle some tobacco in with their weed. That number is the lowest percentage among all of the responding countries, including our continental neighbors Mexico (9%) and Canada (17%). Many of the countries in South America had relatively similar results, with Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina all coming in under 15 percent. However, this is where things get interesting, the spliff prevalence skyrockets as we look across the pond to see the trends in Europe and Asia.

Not only are tobacco-infused joints more common in the eastern hemisphere but they’re the overwhelming standard — nearly a polar opposite to our customs in America.

For example, an astonishing 94 percent of survey participants from Italy roll tobacco with their cannabis. Ninety-four percent. Cannabis smokers from Greece, Hungary, Denmark, and Switzerland all join Italians above the 90 percent mark.

There are a number of reasons smokers mix a little tobacco into their preferred marijuana delivery method, so nailing down the true meaning behind this polarizing trend is somewhat tricky.

Cannabis Stash Efficiency aka Espliffiency

Making one’s weed stash last quite a while longer would be reason enough for many to switch up their smoking routine. For the times when you are aiming for a more mild effect from your cannabis, toning it down with some filler tobacco in your joint can give you just the experience you seek. Cutting down the amount of weed you put in your joints while not ramping up the total number of joints you smoke is a surefire way to space out your re-ups, so spliff away if that’s your goal.

Americanna

Another reason tobacco makes its way into far more joints overseas than in the United States is the availability of cannabis. While Americans may think securing a bag of weed is troublesome at times, it can be far more difficult in other countries. The United States marijuana market is significantly more advanced in terms of product offerings than most of its European counterparts due to established supply chains and ever-evolving legal regulations opening up access to consumers.

A Dash of Hash

Because high-grade cannabis is harder to procure outside of North America, many still resort to consuming hash. The compact and highly concentrated cannabis hash is easier to transport than flower and packs a far more psychoactive punch. Because of the intense effects of the hash and its dense texture, rolling a joint of pure hash would most likely get the subject higher than desired — not to mention the pure hash joint would burn unevenly and far too slowly. How do our international peers smooth out the burn consistency and psychoactive effects of a hash joint? By cutting it with tobacco, which tends to be more airy and stringy than sticky cannabis flower. Spliffing your hash leaves enough air in the joint to ensure it won’t canoe on you.

Pack Mentality

It’s most important to remember that the countries with the most frequent fusion of cannabis and tobacco are also the countries where cigarette smoking is most popular. The below graphic illustrates worldwide cigarette consumption by people over the age of fifteen, specifically how many cigarettes are smoked per person annually in each respective country.

Because Europeans and Asians tend to smoke far more cigarettes on average than Americans, it isn’t all that shocking that they’d be more inclined to mix tobacco into their cannabis routine.

While there are far safer methods of stretching your stash or smoking hash, spliffs still dominate the worldwide rolled cannabis landscape. If American smokers have utilized concentrates and other readily available cannabis products to replace tobacco in their smoking lineup, perhaps increased access to similar products globally could help squash out tobacco-related disease once and for all.