Debate: Is Cannabis A Killer Source: Metro Cafe CANNABIS USERS IN their 20s and 30s have lungs like those of 60-year-olds who have smoked cigarettes their whole lives. The discovery has led to fears of a chronic lung disease epidemic among young adults who are smoking more of the drug - in more powerful doses - than ever before. Poisons expert Prof John Henry established the link after treating patients with collapsed lungs. 'They were suffering from a type of emphysema you would not, in a million years, expect to see in someone in their 20s or 30s - even if they were a cigarette smoker,' he said. 'You would not expect to see lungs like these until a smoker was about 60. 'When I questioned them, they all admitted to having smoked cannabis for about eight to ten years. It was very disturbing.' He added: 'Particularly worrying is that one or two said they smoked only a couple of times a week.' Because healthy people can also suffer collapsed lungs for no obvious medical reason, Prof Henry thinks hundreds of cannabis-induced cases are being overlooked. In a speech last night to the Royal Society of Medicine, he warned of the dangers of greater tolerance. 'It could lead to thousands of young adults being damaged for life before they are middle-aged,' said Prof Henry, based at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London. 'People ought to be warned. With cannabis you can damage your lungs in about 25 per cent of the time it takes if you use tobacco.'
gonna have to keep an eye on this one. in the mean time, ill be getting a triple chambered bong (for boiling, then ice) and a vap
yeah i know people who smoked pot all their lives and are still fine. i'm sitting next to someone who been smoking over 30 years and hes still all cool (my dad).
Like someone else said- just get a vaporizer. Then you get your THC, without all those messy carcinogens, and tars, and whatnot.
i am always skeptical of such reports... especially when their claims are so extreme as in this case. i wouldnt be suprised if they were finding canabis smokers who smoke "soap" in tobacco laden joints or smoke bongs with tobacco in them... such things occur far too often in the UK. but what i really believe is that those who carried out the study probably got a big grant from a pharmaceutical company or tobacco company or even the government itself.
Is this a load of crap or what? Must have been a governmental study done on people with preexisting conditions or a tobacco company trying to protect it's intrests. I refuse to believe that mj is more harmful than tobacco. After all didn't the tobacco companies tell us there was nothing harmful with their product. To the author of that article: Go fuck yourself. I'll take the weed over the cig any day. Reexamine your findings, the damage was due to cigarettes or genetic malfuntion. The weed was free before we were a nation but it took the government with it's personal intrests to say it was a crime. Weed can grow anywhere whereas tobacco can grow only in certain climates. Weed has multiple applications(oil,protein,hemp,medical,etc.) tobacco only has one. Who is decieving whom? Think about it.
well, cannabis could be more harmful to your lungs. it contains more tar than tobacco, and it burns hotter than tobacco aswell. it's not the THC (the actual drug) which harms you. it's the fact that you're inhaling carcinogens. and no matter where that comes from, whether it's a joint, a cigarette, a bonfire, or car exhaust, it's all bad for your lungs. but then again, i read in several sources that THC has a relexing affect on the windpipe, making it wider, which would mean less tar is deposited in your throat and lungs and more is given back out when you exhale. this is a good argument against this article. an interesting thing about tobacco though: only 20% of lung disease from smoking is actually linked to the tar. the other 80% is caused by radioactive chemicals, which, by law, must be used to fertilise the tobacco plants. and this is obviously not the case with cannabis. now, i'm no scientist, and i'm also a little buzzin'. but the fact that there is significantly more tar in cannabis would tell me that it is *at least* just as harmful to your lungs as tobacco. i mean... come on toejam, i love the herb just as much as you do, but it's an unfortunate fact that smoking weed *will* damage your lungs. and badly, if you smoke heavily. just like tobacco. the fact is, that we don't know as much about cannabis (scientifically) as we would like to. most of the studies which have been done on cannabis have turned out to be total bullshit. so as we don't know a great deal about this most holy of herbs, i think that we should all keep our minds open to suggestion. i don't mean you have to believe everything the paper tells you about weed. no way, most of it *is* shite. but things like this really aren't that unlikely. of course, i'm still quite happy to smoke it
everything is bad for you then you dye, if you want to smoke, then smoke. if you don't, then don't. Look at Sweets they rot your theeth. Look at McDonalds they make ya fat Look at sex give you Aids Look at the road you my not see that Bus
D9-THC, Whoa nelly. Don't get me wrong bud I don't discount the fact that cannibis 'may' be harmful. It may even contain carcinogens but like you said the research or lack of it for our favorite herb just doesn't exist. I agree with the statement about radioactivity having an effect also. I would also add that the additives used are more harmful than the tobacco itself and the fact that so little is known about cannibis does nothing to shall we say, "clear the air". Another point would be are there more carcinogens in tobacco tar as opposed to cannibis tar? There would be so much honest research on the herb that it might even actually boost our economy and create a plethora(wow what a cool word I wanna say it again plethoraaa) of jobs. I suppose in part my feelings are due to the misinformation we recieve about mj. Cannibis is no more a gateway drug than tobacco or alcohol, as a matter of fact more people that did one of the prior drugs noted were as likely to escalate to 'harder drugs' than simple cannibis users. It's is not the drug that causes the domino effect but I submit that it is the mind set of the individual or peer pressure that causes this escalation. Don't get me wrong here because in my earlier days I've done almost everything that could be ingested in one form or another. You must admit tho that there are more deaths attributed to tobacco than cannibis. I appologize for the improper comment about the author he was just reporting the facts as they were presented to him. I am hesitant about accepting any information from a government source simply because we are not given the same forum to present our case as they are. And even if we were someone would find a way to skew the results to put cannibis in a bad light. All I'm saying is that the truth should be known and prohibition of the herb should end. Let the people make their own decision not big bully, I mean big brother. Peace out and float on. Toejam
Marijuana itself has never been a direct cause of death in anyone. If you smoke anything for long enough you're bound to have some breathing problems. The fact is, there is no known toxic or lethal amount of THC... if you want to remain healthy and still have your THC fix, I say eat it. Bake cookies, make tea... use alternative methods if smoking is a problem.