Dope 'bigger cancer risk than smokes'

[WantDaChronic]

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.

 

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 five 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 team leader Richard Beasley, at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.

 

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

 

"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.''

[freddie]

Large Study Finds No Link between Marijuana and Lung Cancer

 

By David Biello

 

marijuana, cannabis

 

 

The smoke from burning marijuana leaves contains several known carcinogens and the tar it creates contains 50 percent more of some of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tobacco smoke. A marijuana cigarette also deposits four times as much of that tar as an equivalent tobacco one. Scientists were therefore surprised to learn that a study of more than 2,000 people found no increase in the risk of developing lung cancer for marijuana smokers.

 

"We expected that we would find that a history of heavy marijuana use--more than 500 to 1,000 uses--would increase the risk of cancer from several years to decades after exposure to marijuana," explains physician Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead researcher on the project. But looking at residents of Los Angeles County, the scientists found that even those who smoked more than 20,000 joints in their life did not have an increased risk of lung cancer.

 

The researchers interviewed 611 lung cancer patients and 1,040 healthy controls as well as 601 patients with cancer in the head or neck region under the age of 60 to create the statistical analysis. They found that 80 percent of those with lung cancer and 70 percent of those with other cancers had smoked tobacco while only roughly half of both groups had smoked marijuana. The more tobacco a person smoked, the greater the risk of developing cancer, as other studies have shown.

 

But after controlling for tobacco, alcohol and other drug use as well as matching patients and controls by age, gender and neighborhood, marijuana did not seem to have an effect, despite its unhealthy aspects. "Marijuana is packed more loosely than tobacco, so there's less filtration through the rod of the cigarette, so more particles will be inhaled," Tashkin says. "And marijuana smokers typically smoke differently than tobacco smokers; they hold their breath about four times longer allowing more time for extra fine particles to deposit in the lungs."

 

The study does not reveal how marijuana avoids causing cancer. Tashkin speculates that perhaps the THC chemical in marijuana smoke prompts aging cells to die before becoming cancerous. Tashkin and his colleagues presented the findings yesterday at a meeting of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID...55F83414B7F0000

 

What to believe? I'm not saying the NZ study is wrong but this study has been floating around for a while. It is a very large sample for any experiment. There are other studies and literature reviews that both point to an increase in cancer and cancer inhibiting properties of cannabis.

 

Inhaling smoke is probably not good for anyone. Try and minimise your harm. Vape or eat. Or give up. Take care.

[failure]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052501729.html

 

2000 person study done by expert in the field with 30 years experience totally disagrees with the above 79 person propaganda powered "lets justify why it's illegal" paid for "research".

 

EDIT: BEaten!

Edited January 29, 2008 by failure

[Gee]

use a vapourizer... win-win!

[urbanfarmer]

well I guess by that study I'm pretty lucky 34years since my first joint,

followed by years of fastidious trials of every possible smoking implement.

I must get a vaporiser!

[mull]

Good work on the touche' freddie.

 

This comparison is somewhat leaning toward tobacco, makes me wonder if it was somewhat funded from that area..

 

Most cannabis joint smokers, smoke 20 less joints a day, than tobacco smokers and cigarettes.

 

Most bong smokers, smoke a cone, breathe it out then have a rest. While a cigarette continues to burn even if not smoked.

 

Can vapourize nicotine, chew tobacco, lozenges, chewys or wear patches and still get cancer.

 

Vape or eat cannabis and?

[grok]

one study says marijuana causes cancer...the next study says it doesnt .makes ya think dont it Edited January 29, 2008 by grok

[GChronic]

yeah its true what do you have to believe?if i hear this right,if i smoke 5y longer i'm dead or something???why r all those old hippies i know,that smoking for more then 40y all day long.and theye have nothing,they smoking more then 20gr a day,he is the healtyest man i know....the only thing i gotta say is keep your limit!they over reacting,because how many people do you know that smoke's pot???it's hard to say,do you know someone who doesnt smoke mj?i'm not except my mam and dad.jeezes it's big news in belgium every one is in panic,because that stupid documentury about how bad cannabis is.if the goverment is smart,they first solve the drinking problem.Grtz G-Chronic

[Dragonfan]

Yeah, 79 'testees' - that was the first thing that leapt out at me from THAT particular piece of research . . . and further, deaths from cancer attributed to cigarette smoking are wrong in the first place, there are so many sources of carcinogens that infiltrate our systems in everyday life that I would hazard a guess the majority of the 79 lung cancer sufferers they spoke to would never even consider, like day to day using shampoos, soaps, cleaning products, just breathing the 'air' in an inner city environment can be worse than smoking a cigarette let alone toking it! And, how, if marijuana smoking is SO bad for you, do they right off all the other research showing that cannabinoids in fact reduce the growth of some cancers etc etc and so forth . . . someone's paying through the nose for this piece of propaganda for their own gain only . . . far as I can tell not mentioning any tobacco companies by name though . . .

[gouger]

First question .. make a list: how many MJ smokers do you know who either have cancer or have had it or have died from it.

 

Answer: in forty years of smoking.. I only know one(cancer of mouth) and he smoked cigarettes constantly plus would drink battery acid if he thought it gave him a buzz. He was also a heroin addict for forty years and often resorted to shooting up vegemite.. if there was no smack around.

 

 

Second question: since when in the history of the last 14,000 years we have been known to be using marijuana .. When has someone ever died from using it?

 

Answer: none.

 

Of course if anyone can prove me wrong, I will be the first to admit my folly. However to my knowledge there has never been a death attributed to marijuana use.

 

There has been however an accurate measuring of how many people get cancer of the throat and mouth from combining alcohol and tobacco on a regular basis.

Edited February 3, 2008 by gouger