smoke and damage to your lungs?

[Lethal G]

smoking pot isn't any healthier than smoking cigs thats a myth.

I beg to differ on that one.

[graph]

oops!

but you make a valid point. i would have to agree with you there. seeing as i smoke marijuana more often than cigarettes.

hahahah... argh. If you look closely, most big posts I make have a lot of errors. Luckily, nobody really bothers to read them, so it averages out pretty nicely.

10+ for that one. Made me chuckle.

[birdgirl73]

My guess is that pot smoking does damage the lungs. Maybe not as badly as cigarettes. But you won't find anybody in any area of the medical field who'll tell you that inhaling burning vegetable matter of any kind into your lungs is healthy. You'll get an occasional pot fan telling you, "No, no, it's good for you and won't hurt you at all," but they don't know that for certain. That, to me, is just about as silly as the "pot-cures-all-ills" attitude.

The thing is that, even in the few studies that have been done, large numbers of people haven't been studied over the long term. And the fact that weed's illegal makes it hard to conduct really good, objective studies. There's another problem, too. That's that it's expensive and difficult to examine lungs. A chest x-ray, CT scan or MRI give you some basic details, but a lung biopsy is what really details damage precisely. Lung biopsies are painful and invasive, and they require people to be anesthetized. The most definitive way to assess lung damage is through a close post-mortem examination.

I'm sure grass is very much like cigarettes in that it affects different people different ways--and with varying degrees of severity at different times. Permananent damage may occur for some people after a year, and for others it may not occur until after five years or longer. Just depends on a whole host of other factors like age, gender, physical condition, pre-existing lung health, genetic tendencies, etc.

[beachguy in thongs]

These findings do not support an association between regular marijuana smoking and chronic COPD

Whereas regular smoking of tobacco alone or with other substances increases alveolar epithelial permeability, habitual smoking of cocaine and/or marijuana has no measurable effect on alveolar permeability in the absence of tobacco nor any additive effect to that of tobacco alone.

We conclude that smoking marijuana (13 to 27 mg THC) has no acute effect on central or peripheral ventilatory drive or metabolic rate in habitual marijuana smokers.

Based on the results of this study, pulmonary alveolar macrophages of marijuana-only smokers do not produce increased amounts of oxidants when compared to macrophages of non-smoking subjects.

Because these effects were transient and remained within the range of reported normal values, these data indicate that long-term, experimental exposure to MJ smoke is feasible and does not compromise the general health of the rhesus monkey.

These observations suggest that customary social use of marijuana may not produce abnormalities in airway function detectable by spirometry or bronchoprovocation.

A 20-day study of daily delta 9-THC (20 mg), CBN (600 mg), and CBD (1200 mg) did not indicate tolerance or reverse tolerance to any drug. We conclude that delta 9-THC and, to a lesser extent, delta 8-THC, have acute bronchodilator activity but that CBN, CBD, and their combinations do not provide effective bronchodilation. The daily use of delta 9-THC was not associated with clinical tolerance.

A group of regular marijuana smokers was given expired air carbon monoxide (CO) tests before and after smoking low-dose, high-dose, and placebo marijuana cigarettes. Expired air CO doubled following smoking. There were no significant differences in CO levels in the different dose categories.

The existence of a sizeable number of marijuana smokers in this sample of adolescents did not alter the correlation between CO and self-reports of cigarette smoking. However, in adult samples, where marijuana and cigarette smoking are less highly correlated, marijuana smoking could affect the relationship between CO and self-reported cigarette smoking. Carbon monoxide predicted self-reported cigarette smoking better than did saliva thiocyanate. There was an interaction between grade and the CO/cigarette smoking correlation. The correlations were generally higher in upper grades.

http://www.ukcia.org/research/medline/1.htm

[austwelk]

Maybe I'm talking shit through my ass here but if pot smoke leaves a resin everywhere wouldn't it leave a resin in your lungs too?

Anyway smoking pot isn't any healthier than smoking cigs thats a myth.

Why do u think u cough and expel larger amounts of phlegm when you smoke weed? your lungs rid themselves of the resin via the mucus, so no, your lungs probably aren't caked with resin.

Whether a cigarette and a joint have more or less harmful chemicals than the other is irrelevant. Who passes a tobacco cigarette to 4 or 5 other friends yielding satisfactory results? Who loads a bowl with a thumbnail sized amount of tobacco and expects to not need more for a couple of hours? you know chocolate is worse for you than chicken, but you can still get fat from eating large amounts of chicken and trace amounts of chocolate. The volume of smoke is inhaled is more of an issue than the contents of the smoke.

[Ganjasaurusrex]

I have been smoking for about 23 years. Not heavy though. Sometimes I take 30 day breaks or longer.

I recently had a CT scan for clearance to work abroad.

I was very curious what it would reveal.

After reveiwing the films taken with the Radiologist he assured me my lungs appeared in good health as they showed complete white. He said they look normal and wondered why I was concerned when I told him I dont smoke cigarettes.

But this is not to say there is no residue there.

I think the body has the ability to absorb these tars and process them through the liver. It is a very, very slow process however.

If you smoke anything it is imperative to increase your vitamin c intake to protect the linings of the lungs. Enter (ascorbic acid smoking) in your search box. There is a ton of support for this.

Ascorbic acid will promote strong collagen bonds in the lungs/skin as well as arterial strength.

The usrda of 60mg of ascorbic is ridiculuous. People who smoke anything definently need to supplement higher than this threshold-of-scurvy amount.

I would say a minimum of 2 grams of ascorbic per day, divided 4 times a day.

Moderation is the key when smoking.

Of course if you smoke a ton of weed your likely to get some adverse effect in the lungs and you probably will see results on a lung scan.

I think if there was a cancer connection it would have been known by now with the 60s generation of those who smoked weed only and not cigarettes.

There is a link on this section, "MSNBC no link to cancer and marijuana".

[Nullific]

God damn you people and your inability to search these boards or Google extensively enough on your own to answer your own questions. (Except Beachguy and I suppose 1234abcd)

Graph you're on the right track too. I believe the polonium 210 and lead 210 in tobacco smoke plays a major role in the development of cancers. These are both radioactive, they emit alpha particles and it is no surprise that long-term exposure to alpha particles internally will cause tissue damage. Above all polonium 210 is the only component of tobacco smoke demonstrated to cause cancer alone when inhaled in lab tests.

[Ganjasaurusrex]

God damn you people and your inability to search these boards or Google extensively enough on your own to answer your own questions. (Except Beachguy and I suppose 1234abcd)

Graph you're on the right track too. I believe the polonium 210 and lead 210 in tobacco smoke plays a major role in the development of cancers. These are both radioactive, they emit alpha particles and it is no surprise that long-term exposure to alpha particles internally will cause tissue damage. Above all polonium 210 is the only component of tobacco smoke demonstrated to cause cancer alone when inhaled in lab tests.

True. Plus 43 other known cancer causing additives and 556 other chemical additives.

I just reviewed a three pages of chemicals added to the tobacco process.

It was revealed in a 60 minutes interview years ago with a Scientist for Phillip Morris, the tobacco giant, that when ordinary refined sugar was added to the process it greatly enhanced the nicotone molecule making the addiction cravings stronger.

This scientist later turned whistle blower after feeling guilty about what he did.

Chemical list:

quit smoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm

[Ganjasaurusrex]

better link for chemical list.

whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Tobacco_Additives.html

[MyMARYJANE]

thanks for all the info guys.. really helped