The Straight Toke - THE Marijuana Blog

Dear Julius,
I've heard that if you smoke marijuana, you're putting yourself at a greater risk for lung cancer than if you smoke tobacco. Is that true? If so, how harmful is it?

No, it's not true. I say that tenatively, since there is a catch, which I'll explain in a second.

It's not true, in that if you smoke marijuana regularly, and even if you are a heavy user, you are at no increased risk for lung cancer. The University of California at Los Angeles recently concluded a rather large (1,200 people) study on marijuana's link to lung cancer. They found that marijuana use has no corellation to lung cancer.

Now that's not to say that there's nothing harmful produced by burning marijuana. There is. Burning marijuana releases many of the same harmful substances into your lungs that tobacco does (it actually contains up to 50% more of some these substances than tobacco) -- but it also releases THC. Currently, it is thought that THC can help kill cells before they become cancerous, thus negating the cancer-causing effects of those toxins.

But what about the catch? The study focused on marijuana use. Many people who smoke marijuana don't roll joints (or blunts, etc) of pure marijuana. Instead, many mix it with tobacco to help it burn smoother/slower, and to stretch their supply. Tobacco, as has been proven time and time again, is linked to lung cancer. So if you're smoking tobacco with your weed, all bets are off -- you likely are increasing your risk of lung cancer.

Bottom line: there is evidence that suggests that smoking marijuana does not cause lung cancer. Smoking it with tobacco likely does.

There is some evidence that regular inhalation of marijuana smoke is the cause of other pulmonary problems, but as of yet no studies have provided quantitative measurements of how much damage it causes. It is likely less harmful than tobacco, but regular smoking may lead to lung problems. Of course you don't have to smoke marijuana in the first place -- using a vaporizer or baking it into brownies provides you with more THC and fewer potential health risks.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Health/Medicine, Politics, Q/A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.