"You can't say cannabis is safe any more than you can say tobacco is safe. The health message is clear - don't be burning vegetable matter and inhaling it," said study author Robin Taylor, associated professor at the Dunedin School of Medicine in New Zealand.

For the study, researchers examined 900 people between the ages of 18 to 26 to see how much breath they could expel forcefully from their lungs.

The researchers found that people who smoked either marijuana or tobacco expelled less air in one second than non-smokers. Furthermore, it took smokers longer to expel all the air from their lungs because their airways had narrowed slightly.

The researchers also found that participants who smoked marijuana and tobacco had even narrower airways and greater decrease in airflow.

Researchers plan to conduct a follow-up study when the participants are aged 32 to 37.

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