Pot news....

[novapsyche]

So, I get online for the first time in four days, and here's one of the top Yahoo headlines of the morning:

British Study Warns of Health Danger of Cannabis

which starts out like this:

Smoking three pure cannabis joints is as bad for your lungs as smoking 20 normal cigarettes and marijuana is more dangerous now than it was in the 1960s, British researchers said on Monday.

In what it described as a shocking new report, the British Lung Foundation (BLF) said tar from cannabis cigarettes contained 50% more carcinogens--the agents that produce cancer--than tobacco.

"Three cannabis joints a day cause the same damage to the lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes," it said in a statement.

My first question was, "Who is the BLF? What's their political stance?" But then I decided to give the organization the benefit of the doubt and that their findings came from no particular political position. So then I jumped onto the message boards, because misery loves company. I wanted to see what other smokers were saying.

I flipped to the first page of messages and find two that were recommended by several people. One of them was cogently argued; the author admitted that yes, cannabis does contain more carcinogens than tobacco, but then offered a link that showed that THC inhibits the enzyme that allows those carcinogens into lung cells in the first place. No entry into the cell, no cancer. (Funnily enough, tobacco contains something(s) that activate the enzyme.)

So... *lights up* All in all, it's been a good wake-and-bake.

Comments

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

What seems to be missing from this article is an actual longitudinal study on health problems in marijuana smokers. That doesn't mean that those who made assertions as to the dangers of smoking marijuana didn't do such a study, just that it was not reported.

According to This report, at least one study suggests that marijuana users who do not smoke tobacco have higher rates of respiratory disease and infection than non-smokers, and suggests that for many reasons, puff-for-puff, marijuana use may be as dangerous as regular cigarette smoking. It also points out that it makes you stupid and inattentive, though those effects are not permanent and will probably wear off in about a week after you quit smoking it. Oh, and it leads to a sense of having very profound thoughts.

And people seem to agree that it's a pretty bad idea to smoke it while pregnant, and even worse to use it while nursing.

According to this obviously politically motivated report, a 1997 study that argues that supposed health effects have not been demonstrated to have killed anyone directly. It ignores the fact that - if marijuana in fact lowers your immune system's ability to resist disease - and considering the motivations people have not to report their use of an illegal drug - there is little chance that deaths due to complications or conditions due to marijuana use would in fact be identified and reported. My doctor's little form asks if I smoke cigarettes, not marijuana. even that article, however, does admit that "Continuous long-term smoking of marijuana can cause bronchitis" and recommends non-respiratory intake of the drug.

This straight-to-the-point essay on the impact of marijuana on social behavior leads to lots of links on health aspects, such as this one, which chimes in with many others to say that the biggest health risk from marijuana is for those who already have pre-existing heart disease. It seems there is a dramatic increase in blood pressure in the first hour after marijuana use, which could lead to cardiac arrest.

It seems health problems in marijuana users are on the rise, though rates of addiction and number of users are still much lower than with other major drugs.

And after a bit of looking, I finally find what looks like a truly useful site: Marijuana research reviews on various topics. Did you know that Aids patients who reported smoking marijuana experenced twice the death rate as Aids patients who did not? no confirmed causality but may be due to the suggested impact on the immune system. readings on this site also indicate that it is particularly bad to smoke both cigarettes and pot because they damage different cells in the lungs.

basically, smoking anything is bad for you, and will lead to bronchitis. Whether or not it leads to cancer is questionable, but it does lead to lung cell death. Using a bong can reduce the negative effects, and baking it into your food is supposedly even better.
Brownies, anyone?