Cannabis and Lung cancer-claims.

[moeburn]

My family believes that because I smoke pot every day, and while I do not smoke as much plant matter as my cigarette-smoking sister, they believe that I too will contract lung cancer, because of the higher tar ratio in cannabis smoke.

I showed them that they cannot find a single case of lung cancer or any other lung-related fatality in which the primary stressor on the lungs was cannabis.

They showed me 6, six Toronto doctors that tell them without flinching that "cannabis causes lung cancer". Can someone please explain to me why Canadian doctors can go about spewing whatever first comes to their head, without having to use any medical literature to back their claims up?

You tell a kid cannabis will kill them. They find out on their own that it won't. Now they don't know if anything their parents said about drugs was true. Now they don't know if heroin is really dangerous as everyone says it is. "The ends justifies the means", the liar will say. But the ends are not as sweet as they seem.

moeburn Reviewed by moeburn on 10-23-2008. Cannabis and Lung cancer-claims. My family believes that because I smoke pot every day, and while I do not smoke as much plant matter as my cigarette-smoking sister, they believe that I too will contract lung cancer, because of the higher tar ratio in cannabis smoke. I showed them that they cannot find a single case of lung cancer or any other lung-related fatality in which the primary stressor on the lungs was cannabis. They showed me 6, six Toronto doctors that tell them without flinching that "cannabis causes lung Rating: 5

[flyingimam]

so long as people believe what they here from an "authority" without cross examining it or researching it through other independent sources, this will be the case, whether its America or Canada or anywhere else

same applies to religious stuff, just cuz a church says something, people believe it, thats the utmost form of ignorance and inaction. thats basically like saying \

I am slave to this authority and will listen and submit to whatever is said by this authority regarding the related issue in which the have the "expertise"

I try not to "hate" people of some certain type, but ignorant and passive, non-intellectual people who can't think independently and freely, fall into the category of those that I would categorize as hated had I allowed myself to hate people. those who buy word of 6 doctors for the sake of them being doctors without confirming their word by a 3rd party independent source are just an example of such people.

[Storm Crow]

Drop a print-out of these in those doctor's and your family's laps. Most are only a page or two.

Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids
Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids

Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration
Unbound MEDLINE | Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo. Journal article

Smoking Cannabis Does Not Cause Cancer Of Lung or Upper Airways
CCRMG

No association between lung cancer and cannabis smoking in large study
http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/...l.php?id=219#2

Marijuana Smoking Found Non-Carcinogenic
Medical News: ATS: Marijuana Smoking Found Non-Carcinogenic - in Hematology/Oncology, Lung Cancer from MedPage Today

CLAIM #4: MARIJUANA CAUSES LUNG DISEASE
Erowid Cannabis Vault : Exposing Marijuana Myths


Marijuana Ingredients Slow Invasion by Cervical and Lung Cancer Cells
Pot Slows Cancer in Test Tube

Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors
Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors

Anti-Tumor Effects
Anti-Tumor Effects

In fact, turn them all on to the up-dated "List"! (bottom link)- they deserve to have their minds blown! And remember, these studies are not are not from some "pothead conspirators" trying to get cannabis legalized- these are DOCTORS and SCIENTISTS doing independent research. And they are all finding the same thing! :thumbsup: Cannabis heals!


Granny :hippy:

[Storm Crow]

Duplicate post! lol

[Weedhound]

As someone WITH LUNG CANCER I must say something here.

It's extremely peachy for everyone to run around saying yes or no but how many of the folks saying yes or no have actually SEEN this work or are fighting cancer themselves. I'm sure there's plenty here that use pot for appetite or whatever. How come they're not all getting cured and their tumors aren't disappearing? THESE are the people I want to hear from. DO THEY THINK IT HELPS OR DOESNT??

Storm Crow, you're a sweetie and I love you but you can find a study or "source" to back up ANYTHING you want on the internet as I discovered while researching my own cancer type, therapies, and txs so while these articles etc dangle quite nicely let me warn you Moeburn that you are playing with fire. There are TONS of other ways to use ganja.....vaping, cooking, capsules, tinctures that you KNOW 100% won't cause lung cancer. Why would you screw around?

The question is rheotorical.......from someone who smoked cigerettes (and pot) for 35 years and is now paying the price. Was I warned? Hell yes!! Just didn't want to believe it could happen to me and so I just used some good old fashiioned denial and it really was just THAT simple.

Try one of those methods and give your lungs a break.

From someone who is now living the nightmare of lung cancer....trust me ........this argument will mean NOTHING to you if you are indeed diagnosed with cancer.

[phatsesh101]

I think moes statement backs up my theory on marijuana being a gateway drug. In the fact that were told how bad cannabis is and then try some and its not what it was depicted to be, so now other drugs dont seem as bad and i might give them a shot also. whereas if you tell a child that it is medication they would look at it as a need to take med instead of as a good time.

[backwoodsindo]

I have been a heavy cannabis smoker for about 6 years and after the first 4 years I started to worry about lung cancer... then I came across that widely publicized study by dr. Tashkin and I convinced myself that it was pretty harmless. Now, a few years later I'm starting to reconsider. I am in no way real knowledgeable in science but let me give my take on this issue. When you constantly expose your lung tissue to smoke, over the years that lung tissue will mutate into new tissue, a different kind of tissue, the kind of tissue where tumors are more likely to develop later in life. People with stomach acid reflux, who are at risk for espohagal (spelling?) cancer, have similarly developed a new type of tissue lining their esophagas, as a result of years of burping up too much stomach acid. It is this sort of tissue that the body creates in response to environmental factors that leads to pre cancerous mutations. Again, I am not a doctor and I haven't researched this thoroughly, but this is the opinion I have formed from what I do know. Tell me, why are cigerettes so much worse for you? Is it the nicotine? When you burn plant matter and inhale the smoke you are putting hundreds of different chemicals in your blood stream, and you are irritating your throat and lungs, regardless of whether the plant matter is tobacco or cannabis. In my 6 years of heavy weed smoking the two most harmful things I have done I would say were gravity bong hits and smoking resin out of my bowl. I feel like those two activities have really stressed out my lungs. I'm 24, still young I guess, but I really think I'm done with smoking. I will cook weed into oil and vaporize and get high that way but I just don't think I can continue the smoking under the pretense that "it doesn't cause cancer because there is no documented case of it." I don't want to be the first one! Since this actually IS a matter of life and death I think I'm gonna need a lot more scientific proof than one study a few years ago. How did Tashkin conclude that his subjects weren't at increased risk? Doesn't it cost thousands of dollars to scan somebody for tumors? Maybe I missed it but I have no idea how exactly Tashkin determined that these heavy smokers weren't at risk.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone.. I will advocate cannabis to the death.. but as magical and wonderful as the plant is, it's still smoke in your lungs.

[moeburn]

As someone WITH LUNG CANCER I must say something here.

It's extremely peachy for everyone to run around saying yes or no but how many of the folks saying yes or no have actually SEEN this work or are fighting cancer themselves. I'm sure there's plenty here that use pot for appetite or whatever. How come they're not all getting cured and their tumors aren't disappearing? THESE are the people I want to hear from. DO THEY THINK IT HELPS OR DOESNT??

Storm Crow, you're a sweetie and I love you but you can find a study or "source" to back up ANYTHING you want on the internet as I discovered while researching my own cancer type, therapies, and txs so while these articles etc dangle quite nicely let me warn you Moeburn that you are playing with fire. There are TONS of other ways to use ganja.....vaping, cooking, capsules, tinctures that you KNOW 100% won't cause lung cancer. Why would you screw around?

The question is rheotorical.......from someone who smoked cigerettes (and pot) for 35 years and is now paying the price. Was I warned? Hell yes!! Just didn't want to believe it could happen to me and so I just used some good old fashiioned denial and it really was just THAT simple.

Try one of those methods and give your lungs a break.

From someone who is now living the nightmare of lung cancer....trust me ........this argument will mean NOTHING to you if you are indeed diagnosed with cancer.

While I don't have lung cancer, I have two uncles, one with MS, and one with leukhemia, and neither of them have smoked a single joint since they were diagnosed (only eaten), so I understand your position. The argument really does indeed mean nothing when you are diagnosed with cancer.

Why smoke pot with all the risk? Because it is the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to get high. Cooking with weed takes time, and generally requires more weed to do. Vaporizing requires a vaporizer, something not very portable or cheap, and doesn't always work well. Capsules don't work (tried em, even with ghee, they waste a LOT of weed to get high), and tinctures take weeks or months to make.

The fact is that there is no other way to just grab some weed and get high without smoking, otherwise this discussion wouldn't even need to take place, because nobody would be smoking.

But with tobacco, I used to occasionally partake in a cigar or shisha smoke, because the word wasn't yet in on whether it caused cancer. The risk wasn't high for me, but as soon as I heard of a definite connection, I stopped. That's the breaking point for me. I smoke pot a lot more, so I have made it a goal of mine to uncover everything I possibly can about the link between cannabis and lung cancer. Maybe pot will never cause cancer on its own, but if you combine it with tobacco, it will make you even more likely to contract cancer, combining the physically damaging effects of pot smoke with the cancer-causing effects of tobacco smoke. This is the kind of thing I want to find out.

That's the second thing that bothers me. I understand that tobacco is likely to cause lung cancer, and that cannabis isn't. I don't understand why, or what makes the difference. But I do know that if you tell a kid that pot causes cancer, and then they can't find a single case of pot actually causing cancer (on its own), then they might assume that tobacco doesn't cause cancer either.

Finally, I am sorry to hear about your condition. My best wishes are with you, and I hope your life is full of love.

[Weedhound]

from everyone.

Moeburn....thanks for the good wishes. I really appreciate them.

It's obvious to me that everyone who answered this question has given it some good thought.......nobody just jumped in and "I don't want to believe it; therefore I won't believe it." THAT's the kind of person who won't learn and no one's answer reflects that.

I made my own decision......you folks can too. You all sound like intelligent people who commented here and I love that people have been thinking about it which shows they have an open mind.......perfect for learning and absorbing everything the world has to offer.

And THAT's really what we're here for right? :thumbsup:

[Weedhound]

One intersting thing here Moeburn.....you mentioned you were trying to find out the connection (if any) If you don't mind, I will add my experience here and you can decide for yourself whether it's an argument FOR or AGAINST cannabais and smoking.

Smoked for 35 years; smoked pot for the 20; took ten years off pot then picked it up again (smoking). One year and ONE MONTH after I quit smoking cigerettes i was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer .......one of the cancers KNOWN to be related to smoking.

A.....Did quitting cigs but not pot make this worse?
B....You can bet your ass I don't put ANYTHING in my lungs now
C....Cannabis obviously played no POSITIVE ROLE in my cancer ARISING......in other words it did not prevent it in any way. I quit smoking cannabis when I had so damn much trouble breathing.......which turned out to be 2 softball sized tumors in my chest.
I did continue to eat it in cookies and my capsules.
D.....With conventional chemo therapy I've SO FAR (knock on wood) have experienced EXCELLENT results with tumor shrinkage. Something like in the top 16% because my type is very aggressive and fast.

E....last question.......did cannabis play a role in my tumors shrinking? I eat or use capsules the equivelant of several grams a day. I can't say.......could totally be coincdence.......but interesting isn't it?