Had to share this with you guys Cannabis has turned me into quite the little researcher. I'll browse the comments section of an article, see some misinformation and before I know what I'm doing I've posted a huge comment linking to: A Study that suggests cannabis protects brain cells Marijuana Appears To Protect Against Brain Injuries, Federal Researchers Find - NORML A Study that shows cannabis helps protect against cancers New US Study Affirms Smoked Marijuana Protects Against Cancer. | NowPublic News Coverage A study (by my old uni, incidentally) that shows the "cannabis/psychosis" link to be strained as despite cannabis use rising drastically, the rate of psychosis has remained stable (or even may be declining) Cannabis and mental illness And one of my favourites - a study which showed the risk of lung cancer and chronic pulmonary heart disease in heavy daily weed smokers was the same, or slightly less, than that of nonsmokers. Meanwhile tobacco smokers had a 20x increased risk. http://www-archive.thoracic.org/sec...nk-between-marijuana-use-and-lung-cancer.html And of course I remember to mention it's not addictive, never been cited as causing anyone's cancers, never been cited as killing anyone, and has been considered a safe valuable medicine for 5000 years (as well as being the safest recreational drug on the planet) All this, without even realising. Just on a whim. That's the motivation it gives me. And that motivation spreads into everything in my life. Just one of the many benefits of being an advocate of such a fucking interesting plant! (And don't even get me STARTED on the value of hemp fibre!) --- It's made me work like a scholar! And not just that. It's made me WANT to. Jesus Christ it's so fucking interesting, and has so many aspects.... I just grow more and more tired listening to bullshit misinformation and ignorant people (including stuff my family has said, haha) I guess that's the only downside.
However, I also found this Cannabis use and risk of lung cancer: a case A study which suggests risk of lung cancer increases 8% for every year of cannabis smoking =s how can you reconcile the two? Could anyone offer an evaluation of the studies to get us closer to the truth here? edit: STORMCROW, help us! We need your infinite wisdom!
Dawg, me too. Been researching all kinds of different stuff since I started toking. Knowledge tastes good.
A relative of my fiance's told me that he believes that weed cures cancer. He knows a man that lives in california who has cancer and the doctor told him he had four months to live. He started smoking weed and he is still alive over 11 years later. Maybe the pharmaceutical companies (working with the government) just want to make money off of the medications that they prescribe rather than allow a less expensive more natural alternative. Sorry, I kind of started ranting there.
that is a correlation, not a cause. And in europe, where spliffs are largely the preferred method of ingestion. Find me a cannabis only smoker who has lung cancer....and if you were to, ironically, he would have to smoke more cannabis to help him.
For a start, this was a small study- just over 400 people in all. Only 79 of those were cancer patients. This was an interview study, and they can easily be messed up by the smoker's recollections, estimations of bowl/joint size, and bragging about how much you toked! I found this line interesting- New Zealand has among the highest rates of lung cancer worldwide with the indigenous Maori population having the highest incidence of any ethnic group. So right there, this study may be skewed by other factors pertaining only to New Zealand- something in the soil or water? The indigenous people live closer to the earth and would be more affected by any carcinogen in the soil or water (arsenic is often found in volcanic regions). Cannabis is very efficient in picking up heavy metals like arsenic- home-grown produced on certain soils can be tainted! (I ran the search- "New Zealand arsenic soil"- and look what I got... #1!) Arsenic in the New Zealand environment I think the quality of New Zealand's soil and water tainting their food and buds may have more to do with this, than just smoking cannabis! Inhaling arsenic-tainted smoke can't be good for your lungs! Cancer risks from arsenic in drinking water. Cancer risks from arsenic in drinking water. The evidence assessed here indicates that arsenic can also cause liver, lung, kidney, and bladder cancer and that the population cancer risks due to arsenic in U.S. water supplies may be comparable to those from environmental tobacco smoke and radon in homes. The NZ study also claims to have adjusted for diet, but did they do a thorough job? Who ate local foods vs imported? Drank bottled water vs tap? Did they look at Omega 3 levels? (the loss of CB1 receptors from getting no Omega 3, is a 1st sign of colon and other cancers). At the end of the New Zealand study they mention this- In contrast, a large case–control study from California, USA, with an estimated participation rate in cases of only 39% reported no association between cannabis use and lung cancer. Marijuana Use and the Risk of Lung and Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancers: Results of a Population-Based Case-Control Study Marijuana Use and the Risk of Lung and Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancers: Results of a Population-Based Case-Control Study (I believe that study was over 2,000 people- a much better sample size than 400! Your results are only as good as your data! ) And I don't think I am going to smoke any New Zealand pot! Granny
^oh well. i came into this thread just to say that you havent even scratched the surface, and then i would have pointed to you granny stormcrow. But she beat me to it.
If your looking for information on the effects (health, mental, social) of weed I would recommend "understanding Marijuana" by Mitch Earleywine I'm reading it now and it's quite informative
While I don't believe marijuana has any link in causing cancer (besides the possibility of lung cancer from smoke inhalation), I find it irresponsible for people to go in the complete opposite direction and say it cures cancer. That is a wonderful story, but It is much more likely that the cancer patient was misdiagnosed rather than the weed miraculously curing him. I absolutely agree with you that pharmaceutical companies withhold anything that would cut into their profits though. If they can come up with a treatment for any particular disease, rather than a cure, they will go that route. Treatment means more time on medication which equals more money. A cure is like a curse for a pharmaceutical company, because they will lose a customer. This is one of the many reasons I hate the world we live in. Money over everything is the collective motto, and the United States is the fucking poster child.
Yes I don't think your every day toker will be cured of cancer as the thc levels will probably be too low to make that big of an effect. I do however, believe fully that hash oil is a cure for a good number of cancers, there is an immense amount of evidence to support it...we just need more big companies to pick up on it and research.