Yahoo News: One cannabis joint as bad as five cigarettes

LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking a single cannabis joint is as harmful to lungs as having up to five cigarettes in succession, according to research published on Tuesday.
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Researchers found that those who smoking cannabis damaged both the lungs' small fine airways, used for transporting oxygen, and the large airways, which blocked the airflow.

It meant that cannabis smokers complained of wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness, the study by experts at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand found.

The researchers tested 339 people -- those who only smoked cannabis, those who smoked tobacco, those who smoked both and non-smokers.

While the study found that only those who smoked tobacco suffered from the crippling lung disease emphysema, cannabis use still stopped the lungs working properly.

"The extent of this damage was directly related to the number of joints smoked, with higher consumption linked to greater incapacity," said the authors of the report published in the medical journal Thorax.

"The effect on the lungs of each joint was equivalent to smoking between 2.5 and five cigarettes in one go."

The findings come less than a week after researchers said using marijuana increased the risk of developing a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia.

The government is currently considering whether cannabis should be reclassified as a more serious drug because of the dangers associated with stronger strains.

"The danger cannabis poses to respiratory health is consistently being overlooked," said Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation.

"Smoking a joint is more harmful to the lungs than smoking a cigarette and we have just banned people from doing that in public places because of the health risks."

Source: One cannabis joint as bad as five cigarettes - Yahoo! News UK

aww wtf? we got two ghosts now?

this is bullshit.

enough said.

dude.... that's old as fuck lol.... that myth was around back before i ever even started smoking weed.

dude, it's just bullshit that they use this shit as propaganda for it's continued illegalization.

im not saying its true, i just found it and thought id share....i dont care either way lol

And what medicinal properties does tobacco have? Trace.

LEGAL Rx narcotics can cause constipation, addiction, stomach cramps, liver failure, not to mention DEATH.

So it causes a bit of lung irritation? Vape it or eat it.

"There is no known medicine known currently that delivers medication through inhaling the contents."

Amyl nitrate, Albuterol, Flonase, Relenza, Amphadase ect. Pharmaceutical companies are now looking for more convenient ways to create inhalable medicines in order to reduce gastric side effects of medicines notorious for doing so.

Well.Theres the facts ladies.You better start ordering your grave stone you'll be dead before the weekend.lol

yep, this one is utter bullshit. pas everyone on this site should know by now the worst thing weed does to your lungs is make it so you are short of breath quicker. and even if that is what this study is saying, that it is wworse than tobacco in that regard(which is not what its saying), as someone who runs every day i can personally say the breathing difference is much, much more noticeable in cigarettes than in weed, in that it is a lot harder to run if you smoked cigarettes the night before then compared to weed. i will say it is easiest if you dont smoke at all, but weed doesnt have any lasting damage to breathing i have noticed and the facts are in it simply is not bad for you lungs

No type of smoke inhalation is safe, you should vaporize it if you can.

the reason they say that is, there are more carcinogens in cannabis than in tobacco.


but they don't tell you that the ones in tobacco are more damaging, and are higher in quantity because you smoke a hell of alot more tobacco every day than you do weed. unless you're rich and smoke a massive 2 ounce joint every day :jointsmile:

Here's the abstract, cannabis use actually was linked to only one case of emphysema, while tobacco use, or tobacco use plus cannabis use was linked to lots of emphysema.

THE EFFECTS OF CANNABIS ON PULMONARY STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND SYMPTOMS.
Aldington S, Williams M, Nowitz M, Weatherall M, Pritchard A, McNaughton A, Robinson G, Beasley R.

Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, New Zealand.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug worldwide. Long term use of cannabis is known to cause chronic bronchitis and airflow obstruction, however the frequency of macroscopic emphysema, the dose-response relationship and the dose equivalence of cannabis with tobacco has not been determined. METHODS: A convenience sample of adults from the Greater Wellington Region was recruited into four smoking groups; cannabis only, tobacco only, combined cannabis and tobacco and non-smokers of either substance. Their respiratory status was assessed using high resolution CT scanning, pulmonary function tests and a respiratory and smoking questionnaire. Associations between respiratory status and cannabis use were examined by analysis of covariance and logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 339 subjects were recruited into the four groups. A dose-response relationship was found between cannabis smoking and reduced FEV1/FVC and sGaw, and increased TLC. For measures of airflow obstruction, one cannabis joint had a similar effect to between 2.5 and 6 tobacco cigarettes. Cannabis smoking was associated with decreased lung density on HRCT scans. Macroscopic emphysema was detected in 1/75 (1.3%), 15/92 (16.3%), 17/91 (18.9%) and 0/81 subjects in the cannabis only, combined cannabis and tobacco, tobacco alone and non-smoking groups respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking cannabis was associated with a dose-related impairment of large airways function resulting in airflow obstruction and hyperinflation. In contrast, cannabis smoking was seldom associated with macroscopic emphysema. The 1:2.5 to 6 dose equivalence between cannabis joints and tobacco cigarettes for adverse effects on lung function is of major public health significance.

PMID: 17666437 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

From Granny's "Birthday Gift" post-

Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk
Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk - NORML

Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic
Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic

Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
US: Web: Study: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer

Tobacco and marijuana use on offspring growth from birth through 3 years of age.
The effects of prenatal tobacco and marijuana use ...[Neurotoxicol Teratol. 1992 Nov-Dec] - PubMed Result

Progression from marijuana use to daily smoking and nicotine dependence
Erowid.org: Erowid Reference 6951 : Progression from marijuana use to daily smoking and nicotine dependence in a national sample of U.S. adolescents : Timberlake DS, Haberstick BC, Hopfer CJ, Bricker J, Sakai JT, Lessem JM, Hewitt JK

High anxieties - What the WHO doesn't want you to know about cannabis
High anxieties - What the WHO doesn't want you to know about cannabis - 21 February 1998 - New Scientist

Radioactive tobacco
Radioactive tobacco

Nuff said!- Granny:hippy:

It is all bullshit. they are just trying to scare people