Posted on 08/01/2007 6:18:22 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
Smoking a single joint of cannabis has the same impact on breathing capacity as up to five cigarettes, a new study shows.
The researchers say this may be because cannabis users tend to inhale more deeply and, because joints are smoked without a filter, the smoke is hotter when it hits the lungs.
Researchers from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand publish their findings online in the journal Thorax.
Doctors recruited 339 volunteers who were divided into four categories: those who smoked only cannabis, those who smoked only tobacco, those who smoked both, and those who smoked neither.
Cannabis-only smokers were defined as those who had smoked the equivalent of at least one joint a day for five years; tobacco-only smokers were those who had smoked the equivalent of a packet of cigarettes a day for at least a year.
The participants were scanned by computed tomography (CT) to get a high-definition image of their lungs and were given tests to assess their airflow, or respiratory efficiency.
The researchers found the most serious damage in tobacco smokers - both tobacco-only and combined users - who were the only volunteers to have emphysema, a degenerative and crippling lung disease.
Cannabis smokers had lighter symptoms, such as wheeze, cough, chest tightness and phlegm, which tobacco smokers also had.
But the CT scan also revealed that, among cannabis smokers, fine damage had occurred to their lungs.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
You are thinking too hard. ;-)
A work of art.
Dihydrogen Monoxide is dangerous stuff.
Try suicide, fail, and see how fast your property gets incarcerated in the looney bin.
Do you think the government should "foot the bill" for people injured in automobile accidents?
If not, should we make driving a car illegal?
Pot is 50 times as potent today as 30 years ago. No one smokes more than a few joints a day. Most people do it once a year. Legalize it and tax it. Just like booze.
Its not alarmism...you’re just a damned pothead.
“Thoughts?”
You don’t drink the bong water?
One joint a day? They must be getting lousy dope, or have a high (no pun intended....or was it?) tolerance.
So if one joint equals five cigarettes, they’d still need to smoke four to be up there with the average tobacco smoker.
We breath in 100s of toxic compounds every day from vehicles, factories, appliances etc. etc. Even the steam and smoke from cooking food is bad for our lungs.
Stick to the actual arguments please.
I don’t think government should pay for medical care. That is a personal responsibility. Driving cars should not be illegal as it is not an inherently dangerous thing to do.
Possibly, but there is nothing to stop them from eating it now.
I've often been told by libertarians who are in favor of making marijuana legal that people who use it for 'medical' purposes smoke it rather than eat it because the relief they supposedly get isn't as potent or as quick when it gets eaten. The same would be true, of course, for those who use it only to get high. I don't see them eating it if it takes longer to get that way, nor if the 'high' isn't as 'high'.
Ad Hominem my ass. I was speaking of the article author, but if you’re a pot smoker, that goes for you too. Drugs SHOULD be illegal. Where drugs are tolerated, crime and scum inevitably follow.
Some people are responsible owners of firearms — some aren’t.
Some people are responsible smokers of ganja — some aren’t.
So, to control the people that aren’t responsible, the government makes the inanimate object (guns, pot, whatever) illegal.
True about alcohol. If canabis use were as prevalent as alcohol all alcohol-related social effects would at least double.
And if cannabis prevents Alzheimers then beef steak prevents heart attacks.
LOL! I have sons, thankfully, knowing there are guys like this out there. If I had daughters, I don't think I would ever sleep. But I will say this, constitutional right or not, I would never allow my sons to look like this.
“Ad Hominem my ass. I was speaking of the article author, but if you’re a pot smoker, that goes for you too. Drugs SHOULD be illegal. Where drugs are tolerated, crime and scum inevitably follow.”
You mean drugs like alcohol and tobacco? I’m no more of a fan of the BATF than anyone, but calling them ‘scum’ seems a bit extreme.
You might also want to take a look at the Netherlands, where cannabis is legal and they have no more problem with it than we do here - in fact less of one in many ways. They certainly aren’t spending taxpayer money and ruining lives over it to the extent we are here.
“True about alcohol. If canabis use were as prevalent as alcohol all alcohol-related social effects would at least double.”
Interesting theory, but I really doubt it. Tests of folks driving under the influence of marijuana have generally shown they’re no more dangerous than straight drivers.
Quite a contrast with alcohol there.
“And if cannabis prevents Alzheimers then beef steak prevents heart attacks.”
I’m sure the researchers involved appreciate your learned opinion. ;-)
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