Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Marijuana By Scott Morgan, Drug War Chronicle Blog - Thursday, June 4 2009 TAGS: HEADLINE NEWS DR. DONALD TASHKIN DRUG WAR NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE RESEARCH SCIENCE USA One of the world's foremost lung health experts says it's time to legalize marijuana. Dr. Donald Tashkin, expert on marijuana and lung health, has called for the legalization of marijuana. For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here's what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws: "Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects," Tashkin says. "But at this point, I'd be in favor of legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm." [McClatchy] We've been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it's 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it's time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn't expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that's what happened and he's willing to admit it. Advertisement Here's the study that really turned things around: UCLA's Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise."What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect," says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted. Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that's what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research. Over and over again, all the bad things we've been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world's leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization. Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Marijuana | Cannabis Culture Magazine
A huge step in marijuana activism. If conformist America hears about this, it's only a matter of time until the rest hop on the band wagon. I truly believe something big is going to happen and it's going to happen soon.
This is old, you had me excited about some big new announcement. But on the real, this is a very important study but the biggest 'endorsement' marijuana legalization has got was the American Medical Association
You being in Cali...me being in Colorado...you haven't noticed that "something big" you're speaking of? I'm in my late thirties. I can't believe where we are at here. i NEVER thought it would be this open..that we could legally grow our own plants...or plants for someone that can't. It's absolutely stunning to me. Went with two of my friends in their late 40's to a dispensary literally minutes after they got their cards. On the ride over, they were joking about a conversation the two of them had had nearly thirty years ago: "You know, some day we'll be able to walk into a store and just buy it." "That'll never happen, dude." They came out of the dispensary just short of tears. Just couldn't fucking believe it. More has happened in the last ten years than the 60 before it....AND...it's a snowball rolling down hill. It actually appears to happening faster and faster.
thats probably why it took 30 years for him to tell the truth... at some point you have to reach the point where you cant lie to yourself, or the public anymore.
Yeah he'll be out of there soon . That's your punishment for telling the truth these days. Glad he wouldn't put up with the bullshit though. Good for him