Posted on 10/10/2005 11:57:50 AM PDT by A CA Guy
Heavy cannabis use could be a cause of Maori having the world's highest lung cancer rate, groundbreaking research suggests.
Many Maori from children to kaumatua use cannabis in "epidemic proportions", says a study by Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in Wellington.
But cannabis might not be as safe as the proponents of its legalisation say. A paper by Professor Beasley on the health effects of cannabis was among the research that prompted Wellington coroner Garry Evans to urge last week that government policy on illicit drugs be changed from "harm minimisation" to campaigning against drug use.
The paper reviews the literature on cannabis and suggests it is more cancer-causing than tobacco, and, like tobacco, causes bronchitis.
Smoking three cannabis cigarettes a day is equal to smoking more than 20 tobacco cigarettes, it says.
Professor Beasley said last night that his institute was close to finishing what he believed was the world's first study on links between cannabis and lung cancer.
In his paper for the coroner, Professor Beasley said information was urgently needed on the potential role of marijuana in New Zealand's high lung cancer rate, particularly among Maori, who had the world's highest rate and were heavy cannabis users.
Research showed cannabis use had reached epidemic proportions and was generally accepted and tolerated among Maori. "Users range from children through to kaumatua."
Cannabis use was rising. The proportion of the population to have tried it rose from 43 per cent in 1990 to 52 per cent by 1998 and the proportion of regular users from 18 per cent to 21 per cent.
Studies showed regular smokers of three to four cannabis joints a day had chronic bronchitis and other symptoms similar to those of smokers of 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day.
(Excerpt) Read more at stuff.co.nz ...
Maybe that was their first edible underwear as well. LOL
Or smokable underwear...
l8r
"The ONLY reference is to how a lung cancer is different from another cancer, which has nothing to do with what I said."
Baloney!
Recorded history shows cancer as far back as 1600, and you think lung cancer is only a recent phenomena?
Smoking and coal mining are not the only cause of lung cancer!
That should have read '1600 B.C.'
Ok, I get it. If a few people misuse or go overboard with something, and they, or others, are harmed or die, then that thing is undoubtedly evil and needs to be taken from the entire body of the public for our own good - by force, if necessary. So the left - who absolutely loves this style of thinking - must be correct about a few things that also fall into this category:
Fast food
Guns
Capitalism
Religion
Freedom
We'll start with this little green plant and see how it goes from there. Y'all with me?
You already can't legally use cannabis and an officer would take it away if they did see you using it.
This stuff affects others as well, so the issue goes beyond the individual.
"Why would anyone want to do any recreational drug?"
Why did Jesus turn the water into wine?
Why did Jesus turn the water into wine? pnome
Well, Jesus was asked to do that by his mother and alcohol was a food purifier in Biblical times that prevented lots of food poisoning.
Are you saying you got involved in recreational drugs at the request of your mother as well? If so, when did that first start?
That could have been child endangerment easily, sure would be horrible parenting.
If that happened to you, I am sorry that a parent would deny you a chance at a normal life. Be strong!
It's a crap drug as all the recreational drugs are and the bottom line is that it is not needed.
It is best to perhaps do something Conservative or to buy an island and be a fool where you can't hurt others.
Well ... after all the leading recreational drug is still alcohol ... legal since prohibition was an unmitigated disaster ... Wars on Drugs, I've observed, fail. That's not to say recreational drugs are good - they're not. But the devil's in the details when it comes to governmental involvement...
OMG Mrs. Beasley!!!!!!!!
Keep in mind, that's from the Government's own attack dog on the issue.
We are spending billions and still people want to do drugs.
How much should we spend, how much power should we give to the Police how many special agencies should we set up to win this war.
I don't mind spending money enforcing laws that protect me from others , or others from me, robbery, murder stealing, rape.
But why should much needed funds and resources be diverted from the police agencies that protect me to agencies set up to protect someone who refuses to be protected from them self's.
For recreation. Duh.
Ok, so Jesus did that because his mother asked him to.
Ok, so why did he pass around a cup of wine at the last supper? Because it helped him to digest food better?
Simply put, Jesus liked to drink wine. There is no sin in that. Now, consider this, marijuana is safer for you than drinking wine. No one in the history of man has ever died of an overdose of pot. No one, ever.
If Jesus had passed around a joint at the last supper, would we be having this conversation?
Do you drink wine, beer? If so, why would you want to do a recreational drug?
True, if we see a bomb, knife, drugs, illegal weapon in the possession of a citizen that is illegal or in the process of a crime, they will be confiscated.
I do agree with you that the ACLU and Libertarian anarchist would fight to keep the more criminal activities out there.
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