Health risks of cannabis 'underestimated', experts warn

[White Swallow]

BBC

Experts are warning that the public dangerously underestimates the health risks linked to smoking cannabis.

The British Lung Foundation carried out a survey of 1,000 adults and found a third wrongly believed cannabis did not harm health.

And 88% incorrectly thought tobacco cigarettes were more harmful than cannabis ones - when the risk of lung cancer is actually 20 times higher.

The BLF said the lack of awareness was "alarming".

Latest figures show that 30% of 16-59 year-olds in England and Wales have used cannabis in their lifetimes.

A new report from the BLF says there are established scientific links between smoking cannabis and tuberculosis, acute bronchitis and lung cancer.

Part of the reason for this, say the experts, is that people smoking cannabis take deeper puffs and hold them for longer than when smoking tobacco cigarettes.

This means that someone smoking a cannabis cigarette inhales four times as much tar as from a tobacco cigarette, and five times as much carbon monoxide, the BLF says.

Its survey found that young people are particularly unaware of the risks.

Almost 40% of the under-35s surveyed - the age group most likely to have smoked it - thought cannabis was not harmful.

However, each cannabis cigarette they smoke increases their chances of developing lung cancer by as much as an entire packet of 20 tobacco cigarettes, the BLF warned.

[Slip]

I think they mean 'smoking' cannabis.

We've been using a lot more edibles lately and my friend is supposed to give me his old vape.

Also, an entire marijuana cigarette is a lot of marijuana... that's why most people smoke joints in groups (and why there are such things as roach clips for later use).

Oh yeah, THC is anticarcinogenic as well which is kind of the opposite of the crap in cigarettes (though the tar is still an issue).

[White Swallow]

Fabulous points, hun.

[jahanshazi]

It is a great post.

[Lapsed Lurker]

Oh yeah, THC is anticarcinogenic as well which is kind of the opposite of the crap in cigarettes (though the tar is still an issue).

Yeah, well said.

I wonder what the evidence is behind the BLF saying that cannabis cigarettes are 20 times more harmful than tobacco ones. Are they simply arguing from the concentration of carcinogens found in cannabis smoke, which is a lot higher than carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, and then deducing from that that cannabis is more harmful? That's dodgy reasoning if so because, as you say, cannabis also contains anticarcinogens, and so you get studies like the 2006 one funded by federal health and drug enforcement officials in the US, showing that, statistically, chronic marijuana smokers are at no greater risk of lung cancer than non-marijuana smokers and might even be at less risk, with marijuana providing protective benefits against cancer. link

[Big Rob]

Buy a vaporizer....

[Lapsed Lurker]

Buy a vaporizer....

That's the thing- Is there a need? Does smoking cannabis elevate your risk of developing lung cancer? That 2006 study I mentioned found no such risk.

[Big Rob]

Buy a vaporizer....

That's the thing- Is there a need? Does smoking cannabis elevate your risk of developing lung cancer? That 2006 study I mentioned found no such risk.

It is still less harsh than inhaling smoke... cancer aside.....