One joint = 20 cigarettes
p2pnet news | Off Topic:- Pot, weed, dope, whacky baccy, call it what you will, is dangerous far beyond what people have believed to date, says a new report.
“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,” says Reuters, going on:
“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.”
Tokers, “end up with five times more carbon monoxide in their bloodstream (than tobacco smokers),” the story has team leader Richard Beasley, at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, saying. “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.”
‘Fewer side effects’
Also in New Zeaand, “Just half a joint can trigger short-term symptoms similar to schizophrenia: small amounts of the drug can cause paranoia, hallucinations and delusions associated with other mental illnesses. Schizophrenics’ psychotic symptoms worsen with cannabis use,” says the Sunday Star Times, quoting the “latest health research”.
But on the plus side, “research found that one active ingredient in cannabis inhibits psychotic symptoms in schizophrenics.
Aids patients with debilitating nerve pain get as much pain relief from cannabis as from prescription medications, and with fewer side effects” and, “Occasional use of cannabis is not harmful to teenagers, but those who smoke cigarettes as well develop problems, and are likely to be heavier cannabis users.
“An ingredient in cannabis may help prevent mad cow disease,” says the Sunday Star Times, adding:
A single joint has the same effect on the smoker’s lungs as smoking up to five cigarettes in one go.
Heavy cannabis use among vulnerable young people leads to more social problems.
The greatest number of social problems is found among the heaviest users.
Driving under the influence of cannabis is more common than previously thought, and more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.
And ominously, we may soon see, ” an ‘epidemic’ of lung cancers connected with this new carcinogen,” Beasley says in the Reuters story, concluding, “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.”
Also See:
Reuters – Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes-study, January 29, 2008
Sunday Star Times – Research has good news for indulgences, January 6, 2008
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January 29th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Yes! Lets fuel the drug wars with even more nonsense!
If cannabis caused cancer, why weren’t there a statistical increase in diagnosed cases after the 60’s and 70’s (when cannabis use was rampant)?
And further more, if the cannabis is eaten or vaporized, there even LESS to NO risk to your lungs.
Cannabis can also trigger latent psychosis (I suppose that what the “similar to schizophrenia” really means). But there is a much higher chance that that psychosis is triggered by alcohol instead. And you need to have a latent psychosis as well, which is actually quite rare.
No, the only real dangers with cannabis is it’s legal status and, as with everything else in life; if you overdo or abuse it.
I really thought that p2pnet had higher standards than merely regurgitating propaganda…
January 29th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Too Bad the largest study ever done to find a link between the mary jane and cancer found no links whatsoever:
See article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html
January 29th, 2008 at 11:43 am
“Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk”
The danger of canabis are many and I urge everyone to stay away from these craps at any cost.
However I must say that this is another statment fron the crappy science center!
The main carcinogenic effect of tobacco (that I urge everyone to stay away from by any mean and at any cost!)
is not due to polyaromatic hydrocarbons produced during the combustion but by the nitrosamine content of the tobaco leaves an extremly powerful naturally occuring carcinogen. If you shew tobaco instead of smoking it you are very likely to get cancer as well but in different locations.
If you smoke it you will most likely get your cancer in the bronchial three most often at the biffurcation between the two lungs where it is very hard or even impossible to do surgery of course!
If you shew it your cancer will be most likely somewhere in the month probably the tong but it could be also in the oesophagus or in the stomach.
By the way tobaco also can induce cancers in the kidney, bladder, prostate and the breast!
Smoking anything eucalyptus included have in general other ill health effects particularly on the heart and lung due to the generation of CO and smoke.
All of these facts are well established demonstrated and verified and it is amazing that some idiots still show up with stuff like that beeing too lazy or stupid to search the litterature first.
This is almost criminal since many of these poor souls addicted by Tobacco are looking subconsciouly for excuses not to sever their dangerous and life damaging habit!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Also I wanted to add that while I am not a fan of canabis because it is potentially brain damaging it is not worst than alcool ,not worst than many psychotic pain killers, antidepression drugs (sone of them addictive and inducing suicidal thoughs) and other sleeping pills (many of them addictive too!) not worst than anti ADD drugs such as Ritallin, all of those drugs beeing criminaly advertised on TV by unscrupulous pharmaceuticals companies!
I agree to tell people who value their heatlh to stay away from canabis but we should tell then also to stay away from all the crap listed above too.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Driving under the influence of cannabis is more common than previously thought, and more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.
That is simply the dumbest shit i have ever read in my life. Whoever wrote this needs to seek higher learning, sure smoking weed and operating a car is dangerous for most people but come on driving drunk is a whole different world and EXTREMELY dangerous.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
SMOKE WEED EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!! a bowl or bong a day keeps the doctor away!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
THAT is a spliff!
Now, what was I saying?
January 29th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Love that pic! Reader’s Write, you seem a little confused about this issue (seeming to contradict yourself).
Btw, have you ever read p2pnet on Weed, man?
January 29th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
This is nonsense! I’ve smoked pot all my life! They keep talking about how it “raises the risk” of cancer. What does that even mean? If they had any statistical facts whatsoever to back this up, they would be citing numbers of deaths caused by cancer resulting from cannabis use, but they only speak in vagaries. Are they scientists or not? Don’t they go in for all that empirical evidence type stuff?
Basically, it’s the super-powerful pharmaceutical industry — among others — that’s spreading this garbage. Go ahead, call me a paranoid conspiracy theorist (I opened myself up for that kind of cheap rhetoric by disclosing my pot use). Then go use your own drug-free noodle to conduct a little open-minded, unbiased research into the subject. Make sure you go back in history a ways as well. In particular, look for information on Harry J. Anslinger.
Then, research all the uses this plant has not only medicinally, but in textile manufacture, energy, and just about any other area you can think of. And then ask yourself what the biggest crisis is facing the world today. I’m hoping you answered “the environment”.
If you don’t like the toxicity that is inherent in the burning of any substance, vaporize! It’s squeaky clean, way tasty, and waaaaay economical, meaning that it doesn’t take long for the somewhat costly device to pay for itself! And with the particular model I use, called Herbal Air, I don’t even have to break up the buds beforehand.
Don’t let media get away with all of this misinformation. This is a global human rights issue! People are rotting away in prison because of corporate manipulation. Everyone from pharmaceutical companies to oil to the penal system stands to reap massive profits from the persecution of those who choose to use “marijuana” (a word carefully chosen by 20th century prohibitionists to demonize cannabis by giving it a threateningly foreign name in a time when most Americans were still — well — racists) as well as the so-called war on drugs.
What a sham!!
Whether you smoke pot or not — or even think that people should — any believer in democracy and personal freedom should be livid over this!
January 29th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I’m not going to bother reading all of the above, as it’ll take away my time to roll my blunt wrap (and I suck at rolling) so here we go:
I believe that depending on the way the marijuana is grown, shipped, and stored it could have an effect on the toxicity of the plant. Those with sense use proper chemicals (if any at all) when growing, those without use any other product they think with make their yield larger. Now. as for the shipping part, they may be set next to some smelling hazardous substance that confuse drug dogs. Storing it in canisters that have contained god knows what and perhaps even drenched in gasoline.
Now myself, have never came across this gasoline drenched bud nor do I believe their is a carcinogenic link in marijuana itself.
HOWEVER, USING BLUNTS (tobacco wraps at least) TO SMOKE MARIJUANA WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE CANCER FACTOR. So the simple solution is to use papers or your handy dandy bowl.
I feel as if im leaving out something so heres a picture to make up for anything I missed:
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/3756/highereducationip5.jpg
January 29th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
its sort of an irrelevant comparison because most people have far less than a joint everday
January 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I smoke… around 1-2 joints a day
January 29th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
This is the type of thing I hate about p2pnet, and Propaganda-boy (AKA Newton).
1. In the (futile) effort to appear to obscure the REAL purpose of this site — reflexively defending any and all p2p users (and classifying anybody even questioning same as “RIAA trolls”), he’s turned this site into the equivalent of a supermarket tabloid.
That was bad enough, but now, actually giving the mainstream “drug war” propaganda machine ANOTHER outlet for it’s attempts to drum up fears about “reefer madness” — that’s just goddamn low, even for this site (whose standards are lackluster at best.)
For the record:
I support many aspects of the “free culture” movement (such as “creative commons” licenses for example). I dislike large amounts of the current copyright regime. However, I can’t delude myself into believing that the vast majority of “p2p’ers” are utilizing p2p for ANYTHING other than getting “free” music, cracked software, and porn. Note that I said the “vast majority”. I know that Linux distros and such are distributed via Bittorrent, and I know that voip technologies use a variant of p2p. That doesn’t change teh issue that the original impetus for Napster was to circumvent the fact that mp3 “stashes” were being taken down by Geocities and suchlike.
why is it that when PropagandaBoy puts up vast amounts of heartstring-rending crap about RIAA scapegoats you all give him a virtual “pat on the back”, but when he regurgitates the “mainstream” mindfuck “drug war” propaganda, you turn on his ass?
It’s because THEN he’s no longer “preaching to the converted”.
The “Drug war” is infinitely worse for civil liberties than the copyright regime could EVER be (if for no other reason than the Free-culture folks have a lot of tech-savvy folk on their side, adn can appeal to the idea of “civil disobedience”. That doesn’t work so well with “druggies” — who have successfully been demonized by our Masters to the point that “well-meaning” family members are willing and PROUD to subject people to forcible “interventions” — “FOR THEIR OWN GOOD’, of course.
This should be a warning: don’t believe ANYTHING PropagandaBoy posts here — INCLUDING his protestations of sincerity.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Hi Hank:
Where in this do I say I’m against marijuana?
Nice rant, though
Cheers!
February 4th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I have a feeling that the “latest health research” has come from Britain. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=510903&in_page_id=1774 for more information.
As for the New Zealand research, I wonder if they just looked at the chemicals produced by marijuana when smoked, or the actual effects to the human body. Because research by the American Thoracic Society has shown that smoking marijuana actually *decreases* the chances of developing cancer (http://www.thoracic.org/sections/publications/press-releases/conference/articles/study-finds-no-link-between-marijuana-use-and-lung-cancer.html).
June 29th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Carcinogens? Smoke a Bong with mineral water and be happy.