With the legalization of cannabis in Canada in 2018, cannabis smoking has grown in popularity across many age groups, with over 5 million Canadians using the substance. Understanding how regular cannabis use affects lung health is critical for helping individuals make informed decisions and for guiding future healthcare recommendations. Dr. Janice Leung is the principal investigator conducting the CANUCK study at St. Paul Hospital. Funded by CIHR the Canadian Users of Cannabis Smoke study followed cannabis smokers for 3 years, looking at their lung symptoms, breathing tests, images, and lung cells. The results were compared to people who smoke cigarettes and people who do not smoke at all to determine health impacts. During this episode of Airwaves & Airways, we chat with Dr. Leung about the study, emerging patterns, and what's ahead for cannabis use research.

In this final episode of our Lung on Fire mini-series, we'll be diving into the 3rd pillar of Lungs on Fire which focuses on decision making related to wildfire smoke. Dr. Stephanie Harvard is leading this research pillar alongside Dr. Nick Bansback and Dr. Pat Camp. Tune in as Dr. Harvard talks more about how this qualitative study component of the project will help to identify values amongst communities, help to fill in informational and resource gaps, and inform clinical, public health, and community wildfire smoke messaging that can be used by organization, clinicians, and communities.

Welcome to episode 2 of our Airwaves & Airways special summer series, where we're diving into Lungs on Fire, a 5-year grant funded by CIHR that is looking into the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke across 3 research pillars. The project includes leading researchers in the field of wildfire smoke who will collaborate across experimental, epidemiological, and social science.

In this episode, we chat about the 2nd research pillar, which focuses on socioeconomic factors that lead to the development of lung disease, to do this, the research team will be analyzing the characteristics of people and how it affects risk of lung disease. Dr. Emily Brigham discusses her ongoing work with Dr. Michael Brauer as they work to identify characteristics that can contribute to disproportionately affected populations in order to develop solutions and improve health equity.