Marijuana Smokers Outperform Tobacco Smokers: New research published by the University of Toronto has examined trends in tobacco and marijuana use between 1981 and 2011, and has found that students who smoke the narcotic perform better than others smoking tobacco. The survey included data from an Ontario Student Drug and Health Survey totally 38,331 students.

Marijuana Smokers Outperform Tobacco Smokers, Says University of Toronto

According to the data, the use of marijuana peaked in the early 2000s – becoming normalised after that. It is thought that this trend has led more intelligent students to take up smoking the drug instead of tobacco; which has suffered from increasing levels of stigmatisation in recent years.

However, the results also showed that 90% of students in Ontario do not smoke either substance – and that those who perform poorly in exams are more likely to smoke use both tobacco and marijuana.

Dr Michael Chaiton, assistant professor of epidemiology and public health policy at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, also noted that tobacco users within the student age bracket are more likely to engage in social deviancy – such as vandalism, theft or assault.

The findings come in the wake of increasing legalisation of marijuana in North America – with a large number of US States (including Washington DC) decriminalising the drug.