Pot
Luck
Menstuff® has compiled the following information on Durgs.
Updated 12/1/02.
Do You Know What You're
Getting?
Do You Know What You're Getting?
Strong words of warning for those who smoke pot: British researchers
have found that smoking pure cannabis harms your lungs as much as
tobacco does.
Smoking three cannabis joints a day causes the same damage to the
lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes. In fact, the tar from a joint
contains 50% more cancer-causing substances than tobacco, says the
report, published by the British Lung Foundation.
"These statistics will come as a surprise to many people,
especially those who choose to smoke cannabis rather than tobacco in
the belief that it is 'safer' for them," says Mark Britton, MD,
chairman of the British Lung Foundation.
The report surveys all current medical and scientific research
into the direct effects of smoking marijuana -- both alone and with
tobacco -- on the smoker's respiratory health.
Among the findings:
- The cannabis smoked today is much more potent than that smoked
in the 1960s -- more than 15 times as potent.
- People who smoke cannabis have significantly more respiratory
symptoms such as chronic cough and mucus production, wheezing, and
acute bronchitis.
- Smoking three or four cannabis cigarettes a day causes the
same degree of damage to the lining of the airways as 20 or more
tobacco cigarettes a day.
- Cannabis tends to be smoked in a way that increases the puff
volume by two-thirds and the depth of inhalation by one-third.
There is an average fourfold longer breath-holding time with
cannabis than with tobacco. This means that there is a greater
respiratory burden of carbon monoxide and smoke particulates such
as tar than when smoking a similar quantity of tobacco.
- As with tobacco smoking, the research also shows a possible
link between cannabis smoking and emphysema.
A survey earlier this year showed that 79% of children believe
that cannabis was 'safe,' according to the British Lung Foundation's
news release. Only 2% understood correctly that there are health
risks associated with smoking pot.
SOURCES: News release, British Lung Foundation
• Mark Britton, MD, chairman, British Lung Foundation.
my.webmd.com/content/article/1685.53652
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