Wiz Khalifa credits cannabis for helping with his body transformation

The 35-year-old has added 18 kilograms to his frame and believes smoking strong weed has improved his 'breath control'

Author of the article: The GrowthOp Published Feb 21, 2023

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The 35-year-old recently sat down with GQ to discuss his body transformation, including adding about 18 kilograms to his frame in the last few years, and the role cannabis has played in his workouts.

Khalifa, who launched his own weed brand in 2015, told GQ that he believes smoking strong weed has improved his “breath control.”

Asked if he ever gets winded during his training, Khalifa said that he does not and that he maintains “really good cardio.”

“I honestly think smoking weed helps my wind a little better because I have breath control and I’m able to take these deep, long breaths that normal people who don’t drag strong marijuana—they don’t experience that,” he explained.

And while smoking alters the lungs, no matter the substance, there’s actually some science to back his opinion.

Last year, a study out of New Zealand comparing the effect tobacco and cannabis have on the lungs found that while both substances are detrimental to lung health, smoking tobacco made people’s lungs decline with regards to how much air they can force out while smoking cannabis produced the opposite result and was connected to higher lung volumes.

“Although the effects of cannabis were detrimental, the pattern of lung function changes was not the same. The research found that prolonged cannabis use led to over-inflated lungs and increased the resistance to airflow to a greater extent than tobacco,” said study co-author Bon Hancox.

The study is among the longest-running and most comprehensive research to date on the effects tobacco and cannabis have on the lungs. More than 1,000 adults took part and researchers tracked their lung health from age 18 to 45.

They also found that “cannabis use may also impair the ability of the lungs to extract oxygen from the breath.” While this was an already established consequence of smoking tobacco, the study was the first to demonstrate a similar outcome with cannabis.

Still, for Khlaifa, he has no plans on cutting down on his cannabis consumption, telling GQ that while weed used to be seen as a problem, now “everyone loves it and I’m with it.”

The rapper’s Khalifa Kush products are available in select U.S. markets including California, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, Michigan, Arizona and Utah.

Khalifa added that his eponymous cultivar is what he smokes throughout the day, noting that the Indica-dominant strain is “not couch weed.”

“It won’t lock you down and make you not be able to move. It’s really strong and gassy. It’s like an original OG-type of weed, whereas a lot of weed these days are a little bit more fruity and they’re not on the gassy side. That’s how I like my weed. I like it to be straight gas,” he said.