Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes: study

[Tina Greco - Melbourne]

Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes: study
 
Reuters

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A man smokes a marijuana cigarette in a file photo. Overall use of illicit drugs by U.S. teenagers has dropped in the past decade, but use of the drug ecstasy is up and abuse of prescription medications remains worrisome, researchers said on Tuesday.

 Overall use of illicit drugs by U.S. teenagers has dropped in the past decade, but use of the drug ecstasy is up and abuse of prescription medications remains worrisome, researchers said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Pablo La Rosa

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an "epidemic" of lung cancers linked to cannabis.

Studies in the past have demonstrated that cannabis can cause cancer, but few have established a strong link between cannabis use and the actual incidence of lung cancer.

In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.

The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled. The cannabis smoker inhales more deeply and for longer, facilitating the deposition of carcinogens in the airways.

"Cannabis smokers end up with five times more carbon monoxide in their bloodstream (than tobacco smokers)," team leader Richard Beasley, at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, said in a telephone interview.

"There are higher concentrations of carcinogens in cannabis smoke ... what is intriguing to us is there is so little work done on cannabis when there is so much done on tobacco."

The researchers interviewed 79 lung cancer patients and sought to identify the main risk factors for the disease, such as smoking, family history and occupation. The patients were questioned about alcohol and cannabis consumption.

In this high-exposure group, lung cancer risk rose by 5.7 times for patients who smoked more than a joint a day for 10 years, or two joints a day for 5 years, after adjusting for other variables, including cigarette smoking.

"While our study covers a relatively small group, it shows clearly that long-term cannabis smoking increases lung cancer risk," wrote Beaseley.

"Cannabis use could already be responsible for one in 20 lung cancers diagnosed in New Zealand," he added.

"In the near future we may see an 'epidemic' of lung cancers connected with this new carcinogen. And the future risk probably applies to many other countries, where increasing use of cannabis among young adults and adolescents is becoming a major public health problem."

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Alex Richardson)

© Reuters 2008

[Ari]

Mmmh, I've never tried it Skippy, but I've been offered it a number of times.  Unfortunately, I second-hand smoke quite a bit, lol.

[Tina Greco - Melbourne]

Mmmh, I've never tried it Skippy, but I've been offered it a number of times.  Unfortunately, I second-hand smoke quite a bit, lol.

Thats good to hear Ari.

I have a complete Zero Tolerance on drugs. 

[Khazan]

I think cannabis was one of the ingredients in the holy oil for the temple.  heh, imagine the high priest getting stoned off the incense.

[Khazan]

It should be considered that while marijuana smoke contains carcinogens, the active component THC, shrinks tumors http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm

Another study conflicts with the one previously posted, suggesting even smoking marijuana does not cause lung cancer http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm

Peyote helps combat alcoholism on Indian reservations.  I did a paper for a psych class on peyote, and one of my sources, a Harvard study, showed that the peyote group had similar brain morphologies to "normal" subjects, whereas the alcoholic group showed significant damage.  Greater peyote use was associated with higher scores on various mental health tests as well.  Here's a link on the study http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/study-no-psychological-or-cognitive-deficits-peyote

[White Israelite]

Why's it matter if people smoke marijuana? Heck if their doing it in their own home and not affecting anyone else, who cares.

[Khazan]

Or better yet, smoking a spliff atop the King Solomon hotel in Jerusalem 

There are "legal peyotes" you can order online.  Thing is, you have to eat like 30+ grams of nasty bitter tasting dried cactus for there to be any effect. 

[MasterWolf1]

I am not a smoker, my dad was, and it damn near took his life.  Caused him to have a triple bipass, and blood clot.  It could of killed him.  Luckily the surgery gave him a new hope on life.   I know people will smoke no one is really going to stop them.   But personally, this is my opinion, I don't find any thing attractive by it.

Besides health reason it is expensive to burn.  In NY it is almost 7 bucks for cancer sticks

And to me personally either tobacco or cannabis is digusting.  I seen smokers what they look like as the years go by, they age fast beyond their years.

[Scriabin]

Cannabis is actually worse than crack cocaine.

[Scriabin]

Cigarettes are harmless.

[Jasmina]

 I am totally against ANY kind of drugs!

[Scriabin]

I am totally against ANY kind of drugs!

I agree.  Possession of alcohol should be made a Capital Offense.

[Khazan]

I am totally against ANY kind of drugs!

No tea or coffee for you then. 

[Jasmina]

I am totally against ANY kind of drugs!

No tea or coffee for you then. 

nope!

[newman]

I am totally against ANY kind of drugs!

I agree.  Possession of alcohol should be made a Capital Offense.

Prohibition was a real success.

[Ulli]

I live near the border to the Netherlands. I have tried it before a few years - In the Netherlands are little shops, where you can buy it like in a normal supermarket, but it is totally against my character. It made me passive and lazy. Even the next day I had to pressure me to do something usefull.

I like to drink wine. I become happy and motivated and if I sit with friends, we could talk sometimes until past midnight. But as I consumed cannabis the feeling was really unnatural. It was a strange feeling, like loosing control. Nothing for me.

I know, why the Muzzies like it. I really believe, that cannabis or other hard drugs are matching the character of the Muslimes. If you see like they live in their hellholes, you will notice their fatalistic and lazy morale. All is very slow there. If you see Jews or protestant Christians, you will notice that they are always in hurry. 

In the cannabis shops, called coffeeshops in the Netherlands, where the wasp majority of customers Muzzies. They were so greedy to consume it, that they smoked it in front of the shop. Then they lay down on a bench there and sleeping in public. 

[White Israelite]

I live near the border to the Netherlands. I have tried it before a few years - In the Netherlands are little shops, where you can buy it like in a normal supermarket, but it is totally against my character. It made me passive and lazy. Even the next day I had to pressure me to do something usefull.

I like to drink wine. I become happy and motivated and if I sit with friends, we could talk sometimes until past midnight. But as I consumed cannabis the feeling was really unnatural. It was a strange feeling, like loosing control. Nothing for me.

I know, why the Muzzies like it. I really believe, that cannabis or other hard drugs are matching the character of the Muslimes. If you see like they live in their hellholes, you will notice their fatalistic and lazy morale. All is very slow there. If you see Jews or protestant Christians, you will notice that they are always in hurry. 

In the cannabis shops, called coffeeshops in the Netherlands, where the wasp majority of customers Muzzies. They were so greedy to consume it, that they smoked it in front of the shop. Then they lay down on a bench there and sleeping in public. 

I thought muslims were prohibited from smoking because it is considered a toxin to the body like how they aren't allowed to have alcohol.

[Scriabin]

Prohibition was a real success.

It sure is.

[Ulli]

I live near the border to the Netherlands. I have tried it before a few years - In the Netherlands are little shops, where you can buy it like in a normal supermarket, but it is totally against my character. It made me passive and lazy. Even the next day I had to pressure me to do something usefull.

I like to drink wine. I become happy and motivated and if I sit with friends, we could talk sometimes until past midnight. But as I consumed cannabis the feeling was really unnatural. It was a strange feeling, like loosing control. Nothing for me.

I know, why the Muzzies like it. I really believe, that cannabis or other hard drugs are matching the character of the Muslimes. If you see like they live in their hellholes, you will notice their fatalistic and lazy morale. All is very slow there. If you see Jews or protestant Christians, you will notice that they are always in hurry. 

In the cannabis shops, called coffeeshops in the Netherlands, where the wasp majority of customers Muzzies. They were so greedy to consume it, that they smoked it in front of the shop. Then they lay down on a bench there and sleeping in public. 

I thought muslims were prohibited from smoking because it is considered a toxin to the body like how they aren't allowed to have alcohol.

I have heard of the Hadith, where Mohammed said that all what's inebriates a Muzzie is Alcohol and Alcohol is forbidden.

But it is a fact, that the coffeeshops in Groningen and Winschoten are full of Muzzies. I have seen it.