Posted on 01/27/2008 5:32:48 AM PST by saganite
A new study finds that the development of bullous lung disease occurs in marijuana smokers approximately 20 years earlier than tobacco smokers.
A condition often caused by exposure to toxic chemicals or long-term exposure to tobacco smoke, bullous lung disease (also known as bullae) is a condition where air trapped in the lungs causes obstruction to breathing and eventual destruction of the lungs.
At present, about 10% of young adults and 1% of the adult population smoke marijuana regularly. Researchers find that the mean age of marijuana-smoking patients with lung problems was 41, as opposed to the average age of 65 years for tobacco-smoking patients.
The study "Bullous Lung Disease due to Marijuana" also finds that the bullous lung disease can easily go undetected as patients suffering from the disease may show normal chest X-rays and lung functions. High-resolution CT scans revealed severe asymmetrical, variably sized bullae in the patients studied. However, chest X-rays and lung functions were normal in half of them.
Lead author Dr. Matthew Naughton says, "What is outstanding about this study is the relatively young ages of the lung disease patients, as well as the lack of abnormality on chest X-rays and lung functions in nearly half of the patients we tested."
He added, "Marijuana is inhaled as extremely hot fumes to the peak inspiration and held for as long as possible before slow exhalation. This predisposes to greater damage to the lungs and makes marijuana smokers are more prone to bullous disease as compared to cigarette smokers."
Patients who smoke marijuana inhale more and hold their breath four times longer than cigarette smokers. It is the breathing manoeuvres of marijuana smokers that serve to increase the concentration and pulmonary deposition of inhaled particulate matter – resulting in greater and more rapid lung destruction.
This paper is published in the January 2008 issue of Respirology.
The point of this study is that this type of lung disease cannot be picked up with normal chest x-rays. The use of cat scans that are of high quality pick up the sign of the disease much faster.
It sounds pretty accurate to me —if the evidence is in-fact the better detection method.
Isn't that enough? Why stretch to make up other silly reasons not to smoke it?
Doesn’t seem to have affected Willie Nelson, and he’s probably burned more than anyone....
In 2004 30.3% of state prison inmates who committed property crimes did so in order to get money for drugs.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/duc.htm
I don’t believe I saw any more calls for even further restrictions on marijuana use in the article. As for limiting choices, go tell that to the cigarette smokers.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
If it was cigarettes, or trans fat, they'd be all about "no government interference". But with pot, they've bought the government platform, hook, line, and sinker. It amazes me too.
Which is why they post paranoid falsehoods like the one below:
"Cops have excellent second incomes by stealing form the homes they raid and selling the stuff later after stealing it from the evidence room."
Yeah, and I'm sure it was all about scoring pot.
Not heroin, or cocaine, or amphetamines... nope, just pot. /sarc
And not a thing you said addresses the results of the study, ie: smoking marijuana is worse for your health than smoking cigarettes. Maybe marijuana smokers will want to know the effect of their habit on their lungs. A public service to the pot heads? Or should we just keep quiet and let them kill themselves off?
Well, let’s wait for more studies to come out. I’m all for medical research. One study proves nothing.
On the larger issue of pot, I think there are plenty of studies that show that it inhibits short-term memory and is bad for students, especially young students. On that issue, the evidence is solid. Students, or anyone trying to improve their skill in anything, shouldn’t be smoking pot.
But on the issue of increased lung disease, lets see what further studies show.
You think lung disease is a silly reason? Weelll, OK.
What is "regularly"? 20 joints a day? Three joints a week? Also, how many of these people are also cigarette smokers? Without careful definitions of terms and elimination of variables such as tobacco use this seems meaningless.
And potheads never use any of those too. /sarc
Before we legalize dope.
Seruzawa has it right ,, you should see the cars on my county PD’s lot that were confiscated ... this isn’t debatable ,, they do confiscate property on a regular basis ,, and they do sell it to pay for PAL , DARE , “company picnics” and SWAT toys ,, to the extent that it reduces demands on their budget it does increase the $$$$$ available for pay increases... The only thing he said that I disagree with is saying that cops steal from the evidence room ,,, that hasn’t been my experience ,, when they steal they usually steal directly from users/dealers and then “cut them a break” by not taking them in...
No, I meant trying to make a silly connection between pot smoking and a relatively obscure causation of lung disease. This study is a reach, pure and simple.
The best reason not to smoke pot (the one I have) is that it makes the smoker stupider than when they were sober/straight. I never had a "profound realization" while stoned that I couldn't have had straight -- and remembered afterward, too. Getting stoned is a waste of time.
There was a study released recently that Dr. Dean Edel was talking about that involved pot smokers, pot and tobacco smokers and tobacco only smokers. Apparently, the study showed that those who smoked pot and tobacco had a much lower incidence of lung cancer than the tobacco only smokers and the pot only smokers even a lower incidence of lung cancer. The gist of the study was that there is some ingredient in pot, possibly the THC, that turns off the genetic marker that allows lung cancer to grow. I don't recall who did the study, but he mentioned it in one of his radio spots recently.
Yep. It's just an unsupported lie.
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