Cannabis 'worse than tobacco'

BBC News ^ | 10 July 2002

[SheLion]

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned.

The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy.

Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections .

Dame Helena Shovelton:

The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest.

The British Lung Foundation is currently carrying out a review of research into the impact of smoking cannabis on health.

Preliminary results suggest that the drug is at least as harmful as smoking tobacco - and may carry a higher risk of some respiratory cancers.

Ignorance

BLF chief executive Dame Helena Shovelton said: "Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections.

"The government spends millions of pounds a year on smoking cessation and public education about the dangers of smoking, yet smoking cannabis is at least as harmful as smoking tobacco and, indeed, may carry a higher risk of some respiratory cancers."

She said regardless of cannabis's legal status, many young people will make their own decision about whether they wish to use it or not.

"The government have a public health responsibility to ensure they do so with full knowledge of the risks associated with smoking cannabis," she said.

"Fifty years ago, people thought smoking was a good thing. Now it is described as a public health disaster - we don't want to see the same thing happen with cannabis."

Under estimate:

The report is also expected to warn that research carried out in the 1960s and 1970s may underestimate the impact of today's cannabis since it is much more potent than the cannabis smoked then.

The average cannabis cigarette smoked in the 1960s contained about 10mg of D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient which accounts for the psychoactive properties of cannabis, compared to 150mg of THC today.

British Lung Foundation chairman Dr Mark Britton said: "There is an urgent need for more research into the effects of cannabis on respiratory health so that we can feel confident in the advice we give to young people.

"As a respiratory consultant physician, I see the devastating consequences of smoking-related lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic obstructive airways diseases, every day and I am fearful that long-term cannabis smoking may be linked to similar conditions."

[monkeyshine]

Actually, the "new way" to smoke the weed is by vaporization... using a device which heats up the weed to the point that the THC is emitted in vapor form, but not enough to cause rapid carbonization (burning) of the plant. You just breath a lot of hot THC filled air, not smoke.

[TheOtherOne]

It just died a sudden death, unless the anti-smoking-Nazi liberals are hypocrits. Could it be?

Most pot smokers already smoke in private or with other smokers and do not subject others in public to their smoke.

[zarf]

DON"T ANYONE TOUCH MY WEED!! NOW COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!!!!!

[zarf]

I'd respond but I forgot.....(toke, toke)

[KEVLAR]

You are misinformed.

[Dakmar]

I know, but it's just so much fun using ill-thought out lies against their creators.

[shempy]

The BEST way to smoke cannabis is using a vaporizor. This doesn't even burn the weed, it just heats it up to the point that the THC vaporizes. So technicaly, it isn't even "smoking".

Either way, I prefer to smoke my weed. Unfortunately, a bong isn't practical for my life style so I just stick with my one-hitter most often.

Weed should be legal, but I can live with its current status. It is still dirt cheap, easy to find, and I kinda like my status as an outlaw. I used to sell the stuff and I always felt like a bootlegger durring prohibition. High risk but an even higher reward (pun not intended).

[WindMinstrel]

If cannabis causes cancer, where are all the hippie cancer patients? Wouldn't you expect one study to show some correlation between smoking and cancer? Just one?

[concerned about politics]

Most pot smokers already smoke in private or with other smokers and do not subject others in public to their smoke.

Only because it's illegal. It would be pretty dumb to smoke it in the park next to the police station, aye?

[jae471]

AND, tobacco does not alter perceptions.

Actually, nicotine is MORE psycoactive than THC. Rip a filter off of a Marlboro, then smoke it like you would a joint -- Deep drags, holding it in your lungs for a long time -- and see what the effect is. Now, smoke a joint like you would a normal cigarette -- shallow drags, in and out -- and see the effect.

Most of the effect of THC is the manner in which its ingested. Eat it, drink it -- you get euphoric and relaxed, but not really dumbed down, unless your mind has prepared you to become dumbed down.

Alot of it is purely psychological -- i've know stoners who got oregano and thought it was good stuff -- all because their mind was expecting that. A similar effect can be observed in alcohol. People use alcohol as a excuse to act stupid, when they really haven't had enough to cause the psychoactive effect.

[Kermit]

"Fifty years ago, people thought smoking was a good thing."

You are much too believing. You've got to be more skeptical. Who, who believe smoking was a good thing 50 years ago? A couple of cigarette companies promoting the smoother taste with less coughing. 100 years ago and more, people called cigarettes 'coffin nails'. "People" knew smoking wasn't healthy, they may not have known exactly, but they knew.

Second, you're taking the word of one politician on what marijuana does to the lungs. This politician is NOT unbiased, he's NOT a scientist, doctor or epidemiologist and certainly hasn't read the literature on the health effects of pot.

You have to realize that drug prohibition is a leftwing program, that has gone on so long, that it's been adopted by conservatives as their own. The Left lies. When in doubt, remember that the Left lies. Polititicians lie. Do your own homework.

In over 30 centuries of known human consumption of pot, there are zero known deaths. If smoking pot is bad, then people can eat or drink it.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Good God almighty. Must we debunk this kind of research on every WoD/MJ thread?

Condensed version: it is almost humanly impossible to smoke the amount of weed you'd need to achieve the levels of toxins they want you to be concerned about. The research was conducted on rats who were exposed to MJ smoke until they died. The equivalent level of smoke for humans is something obscene---on the order of several scores of joints per day . . .

[07055]

Most pot smokers already smoke in private or with other smokers and do not subject others in public to their smoke.

Have you been to a Rock concert at any time during the past 35 years? ;-)

[Wolfie]

Yep...just happened to click on your post to reply. Actually, the Prohibitionists in Britain are just apoplectic about the reclassifcation, and this is the kind of last gasp (no pun intended) effort they're spewing out. Their ex-Drug Tsar (they spell it with a "T", isn't that cute) and current drug adviser (Keith Helliwell) just resigned, saying that the reclassifcation moved the UK "further toward decriminlisation than any other country". Guess he's never heard of Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.

[shempy]

Here is a site that sells a vaporizer. This is the first comercially available vaporizer I have seen.

http://www.marijuanavaporizer.com/

[07055]

If cannabis causes cancer, where are all the hippie cancer patients?

Bob Marley?

[WindMinstrel]

that's one. How 'bout a few thousand more?

[shempy]

Marley had cancer in his TOE, which then spread to his lungs and elsewhere. Are you saying that marijuana causes toe cancer?

[Wolfie]

If cannabis causes cancer, where are all the hippie cancer patients?

They're hiding out with all those men sporting weed-induced breasts.

[WindMinstrel]

my breasts are natural, I'll have you know. Floppy, certainly, but natural.