Cannabis 'kills 30,000 a year'

[Midget]

scaremongering is all the opposition have.

 

 

30,000 a year.... OK... seems legit

[doctor_nelson]

"Researchers calculate that if 120,000 deaths are caused among 13million smokers, the corresponding figure among 3.2million cannabis smokers would be 30,000."

 

Did the 'researchers' calculate these figures with an abacus??

 

Please don't think I'm trying to defend the authors but I'll try to answer your question. 

I see a pattern looking at those figures, 13000000/120000 = 108 so they're claiming that about 1 in 108 smokers die of their smoking each year.

That looks like it might be based on fairly reliable evidence that a smoker's lifetime risk is about 50-60% of death from smoking related disease - so after 60 years of 1/108 about half are dead.

So far so good. 

Unfortunately it looks like they then assume that the same proporation of cannabis smokers will die from cannabis smoking effects - 1 in 108 so assuming 320000/108 = 29629 - close enough for government work.

Now, even if the math is right, that's poor science. We have data for deaths due to cigarette smoke eg http://www.quit.org.au/resource-centre/fact-sheets/deaths-from-smoking , but not for deaths due to cannabis smoke.

Sure, tobacco is a plant like cannabis but cigarettes have all sorts of chemical crap added to them and only the most dedicated cannabis devotees manage 20 joints every day.

I know a lot of folk who mix herb with tobacco making it even harder to figure out the real risk from cannabis alone.

AFAIK burning any plant creates cancer causing chemicals so if you suck it in to your lungs it probably isn't zero risk - even if the people who wrote that article are rogues.

[MrTrimbole]

Thats what it comes down too, not the actually plant itself but the process in which it is consumed. Most people who use it, especially in this country, mix it with other things and smoke it through a bong.

 

Now i dont agree with the way this story written or how it can be taken out of context and used as scaremongering, which is what they have done here, but i understand the death bit.

 

As soon as i saw the title i knew what it was all about.

 

FWIW my lungs are shot from smoking pot with baccy and through a bong.  I just know that when i hit my 60s two and half decades of hits from the bong is going to catch up with me fast and i will have massive lung problems, i already do at 40.

[brick]

Thats what it comes down too, not the actually plant itself but the process in which it is consumed. Most people who use it, especially in this country, mix it with other things and smoke it through a bong.

 

Now i dont agree with the way this story written or how it can be taken out of context and used as scaremongering, which is what they have done here, but i understand the death bit.

 

As soon as i saw the title i knew what it was all about.

 

FWIW my lungs are shot from smoking pot with baccy and through a bong.  I just know that when i hit my 60s two and half decades of hits from the bong is going to catch up with me fast and i will have massive lung problems, i already do at 40.

or a heart attack like I did. I was lucky got a second chance. No more baccy. My 3 or 4 j's of a night help keep the blood pressure down. My lungs do feel good though. In reality our lungs are built to have only oxygen in and co2 out, anything else is just not good for us. But human beings like to feel good and smoking baccy or cannabis makes us feel good. So we aren't really going to stop as a race. No matter what research is trown up at us. I think it is more intended for the youth of the world. Scare tactics. Do they really work? Maybe on a few but not all.

[doctor_nelson]

or a heart attack like I did. I was lucky got a second chance. No more baccy. My 3 or 4 j's of a night help keep the blood pressure down. My lungs do feel good though. In reality our lungs are built to have only oxygen in and co2 out, anything else is just not good for us. But human beings like to feel good and smoking baccy or cannabis makes us feel good. So we aren't really going to stop as a race. No matter what research is trown up at us. I think it is more intended for the youth of the world. Scare tactics. Do they really work? Maybe on a few but not all.

 

 

(website quote bug! This was Mr Trimbole - not brick!)

 

FWIW my lungs are shot from smoking pot with baccy and through a bong.  I just know that when i hit my 60s two and half decades of hits from the bong is going to catch up with me fast and i will have massive lung problems, i already do at 40.

 

I'm 60+ and sorry to sound like a broken record but vaporising is one possible way to get medicated without burning anything. There may still be health risks but at least you know you're not inhaling carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from burning cellulose.

Take a look at all the discussion at http://fuckcombustion.com for example.

FWIW: I've been vaping for 8 years now after about 30 years of combusting and I don't miss the morning cough one bit. Vaping requires investment in specialised electronic equipment, takes more time and won't give the same throat constricting physical hit as a bong. The upside is that I go through less material to get just as ripped. It takes time to learn the optimal techniques but it definitely works - especially if you use modern temperature controlled equipment. The arizer solo (about $180 delivered off fleaBay) is my goto machine these days and many of my friends convert after one brain bending demonstration. With a good vaporiser you can get real control over the type of effect - eg the psychoactive THC comes mostly in the first few hits, then later there are the more sedative materials like CBD eg - whereas a bong rip has it all mixed up with the nasty carcinogens at once.  

As always, YMMV. 

Edited February 10, 2014 by doctor_nelson

[brick]

I have two vapes and they have never given me the same hit as a joint. I have also coughed my guts up using the bag as did others at Nimbin one year. It is really a moot point what you use to get it inside your lungs, none of it is healthy. Through the stomach is imo the only safe way.

[MrTrimbole]

I'm 60+ and sorry to sound like a broken record but vaporising is one possible way to get medicated without burning anything. There may still be health risks but at least you know you're not inhaling carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from burning cellulose.

Take a look at all the discussion at http://fuckcombustion.com for example.

FWIW: I've been vaping for 8 years now after about 30 years of combusting and I don't miss the morning cough one bit. Vaping requires investment in specialised electronic equipment, takes more time and won't give the same throat constricting physical hit as a bong. The upside is that I go through less material to get just as ripped. It takes time to learn the optimal techniques but it definitely works - especially if you use modern temperature controlled equipment. The arizer solo (about $180 delivered off fleaBay) is my goto machine these days and many of my friends convert after one brain bending demonstration. With a good vaporiser you can get real control over the type of effect - eg the psychoactive THC comes mostly in the first few hits, then later there are the more sedative materials like CBD eg - whereas a bong rip has it all mixed up with the nasty carcinogens at once.  

As always, YMMV. 

 

I have a Life Saver and i use it now and then, mainly for my bubble hash, i still cant get used to the high. And yes i have coughed using the vape..in fact i cough the most with the hash.  I will still use it though as it was bloody expensive. I have to disagree with using less material..i find i am using more than i would using a bong. It takes me a lot more vapes to get to where i like being with a bong.

 

And have you have or had any issues in your 30 years using a bong? Its the one thing that really worries me, especially when i cough up black tar every single day. I must piint out i am a daily smoker.

Edited February 10, 2014 by MrTrimbole

[Faith]

When I have enough flowers, I tend to roll more joints....I use the genie and roll a cupla spliffs for the day and at night w/the wife.  Occasional pipe.  No baccy mix...and I practically stop smoking cigarettes completely.

 

I got used to the vape hit fine enough even though slightly different delivery, slightly different high.  It seems though those who implement the bong (the only reason I don't is it drills my chest and I hack-still get a nice effect but when there are less unpleasant ways in intake, why hurt yourself?)

find it more difficult to get used to the vape.  If I want a really quick wack I usually jsut vacuum a bowl from a lil pipe and try not to cough a lung

 

That's just me though, but I love the guy! he got the face

 

Peace and good life.faith

[doctor_nelson]

I have two vapes and they have never given me the same hit as a joint. I have also coughed my guts up using the bag as did others at Nimbin one year. It is really a moot point what you use to get it inside your lungs, none of it is healthy. Through the stomach is imo the only safe way.

 

Vapour will never satisfy some people, requires more effort than just rolling a joint and will never give you exactly the same experience as a joint - it's different for sure and not for everyone, but if you value your long term health enough you might be willing to work at it like I was.

Remember you may have been 'conditioned' like Pavlov's dog to associate the irritation of smoke (the bell for the dog) with getting ripped (food for the dog making it salivate) and it might take a while to get used to the slower onset of vapour eg.

Vaporizers lacking accurate temperature control or adequate heating power to maintain a narrow range during inhalation are (IMHO) next to useless and if your vapour makes you cough then you might need a lower temperature or better equipment. For me, a modern popular and well tuned gadget like the solo (see the 10k+ posts in the arizer solo subforum at fuckcombustion.com!) can definitely get you fully medicated given appropriate care and feeding. The only friend I have not been able to convert is a die-hard tobacco addict - he survived throat cancer 5 years ago and it breaks my heart to see him puff on a mix of tobacco and herb.

[doctor_nelson]

I have a Life Saver and i use it now and then, mainly for my bubble hash, i still cant get used to the high. And yes i have coughed using the vape..in fact i cough the most with the hash.  I will still use it though as it was bloody expensive. I have to disagree with using less material..i find i am using more than i would using a bong. It takes me a lot more vapes to get to where i like being with a bong.

 

And have you have or had any issues in your 30 years using a bong? Its the one thing that really worries me, especially when i cough up black tar every single day. I must piint out i am a daily smoker.

I've had no experience with ecigs as I have no interest in putting glycerine inside my lungs - I just want natural plant volatiles in my lungs so I only use flowers - who knows what nasty crap has been added to your "hash" on its way from the plant to you?

No doubt about the solo being far more efficient for me - about 0.2g of decent dry hydro in a stock solo stem is enough for me to get thoroughly medicated, but like I keep saying, YMMV.