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Lothar121

Marijuana: More Harm Than Good
Dr. Paul Martiquet | Squamish Chief | 06/03/2005

Marijuana … what’s an occasional little toke between friends? It will relax you and is so much better than cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs. Besides, didn’t we all ‘inhale’ when we were young and we’re fine?

What claptrap!

Smoke from burning marijuana pollutes the lungs and will deliver up to four times as much tar as tobacco cigarettes. And because users hold their toke longer before exhaling, the lungs are exposed to even higher levels of cancer-causing toxins. How’s that for an innocent little puff?

(LothNote: The implication here is that marijuana causes cancer. That is obviously what he is trying to imply here, and he says it in black white later in the article. The National Institute of Medicine summarized the cancer bit with "There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use." )

The high incidence of marijuana use is not exclusive to any community, but the latest McCreary survey of adolescents on the Sunshine Coast shows that half of our youth have tried marijuana at some point — up from only 33 per cent in 1993’s survey. While the numbers are for this specific region, few will doubt that the situation is any different across the whole of our health region.

Most of the rationalizations for using this drug are based on misconceptions about the harm it can do. Many believe that because marijuana is a ‘natural’ plant (name one that is not) and is grown ‘organically’, little harm can be associated with smoking it. Wrong! Although users may experience a euphoric high from the drug, there are severe consequences from smoking it.

The damage from marijuana smoke is concentrated because of how the drug is used. Unlike regular cigarettes (don’t worry, we do not support their use either), the lack of filters on joints means nothing is held back from the lungs. Also, marijuana smokers typically inhale a larger amount of smoke, take it more deeply into the lungs, and then hold it for longer before exhaling. Thus, the lungs are exposed to even more toxins.

Still want a toke?

Habitual smoking of anything damages the lining of the bronchial airways. After continuous exposure to smoke, the delicate tissues along these passageways become red and swollen.

Smoking also alters the interior of bronchial cells that develop a variety of abnormalities, some of which are precursors to cancer.

Various studies all suggest that marijuana smoke is a risk factor for developing respiratory, mouth and throat cancers. Evidence exists that marijuana contains abundant carcinogens, which can cause chromosomal changes that precede cancer and outright malignancies.

(LothNote: This is not the case according to a study by a researcher from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore. As he mentions, marijuana can be vaporizer or ingested orally to avoid all the harmful effects of smoking. The point is marijuana having a causal link to cancer is unsubstantiated and he misinforms his readers.)

Of course we know that some patients are prescribed medical marijuana. Patients are also encouraged to use the drug vaporized or to ingest it orally to minimize lung damage. Vaporizing heats the marijuana so that the active ingredients (cannabinoids) are released and inhaled by the user. This is different from smoking as nothing is being burned, a process which adds tar and carcinogens.

Marijuana endangers and damages the lungs and causes cancer and more. But consider the danger of driving or operating machinery under the influence — think not only of a tractor or chainsaw, but also the lawn mower or electric mixer. Using marijuana is also associated with increased rates of injury in workplaces and homes.

If you believe that marijuana is acceptable to use, please consider the health consequences of smoking it. It is not the innocent little fun that some will have you believe.

Dr. Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Sea-to-Sky.

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beefman351

Obviously smoking is bad for you, but you dont see tobbaco being illegal, and while high on marijuana you can have accidents but u can also when your drunk but alcohol isnt illegal.....

foofromthewest

Dumbest thing I've ever read

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Growguy

im gonna give props to the moderator who acually posted this in its entirety. If an article was made persay with the opposite notion - promoting the use of marijuana, would you find it on any anti-marijuana site? slim chance. yet this site posts anti marijuana articles with ease. thats what i call providing (as much as possible) an unaltered news feed. though comments are made in regards to the moderators opinion, the article isn't chopped or edited.

more than you can say about freevibe.

Mamabudz

Constant irritation by a stimulus such as smoke will cause abnormal cell growth. Some of these abnormalities are cells that pre cursor cells to cancer cells if the person is predisposed to the cancer if outside stimuli such as viral or bacterial infections that would stimulate cancer growth are present

These studies are the same ones that show that smoking, in fact the inhalation of any hot particulate matter such as that which fireman or wielders experience, can cause changes in the lung tissue to cope with this infiltration of hot matter. The "suggestion" of risk is the presence of the precursor cells.

What the study does not go on to state is that it has also been discovered that cannabis (pot) has certain anti-cancer properties, allowing the body to isolate certain tumor cells and assist in their removal from the body.

Of course evidence also exists that the water we drink, the air we breath and the food we eat also contain carcinogens --

-- by definition a carcinogen is a compound that causes chromosonal changes which is what create the precursor cells for cancer and so that statment is redundant --.

Basically -- smoking things is bad for your lungs.

Which is why so many of us have sawitched to vaporizing and eating cannabis.

Then again man has been breathing in smoke for about 20 thousand years -- cooking fires, cave fires, hearth fires, peat fires, camel dung fires, buffalo chip fires, camp fires, pipes, hookah, cigars, burned pot roasts -- and except for the carcinogenic heavy metals placed into cigarettes by big industry, we've pretty much survived.

 

Cellophane

This guy is the "Medical Health Officer" for "Sea-To-Sky"?

This article is so terrible that it basically promotes the use of marijuana.

Kannibal

People get locked up sometimes for possesion of cannabis.People do not get locked up for tobacco or alcohol except for certain exceptions.

People lose jobs and are denied jobs because of the status of cannabis and drug testing.I do not believe the same can be said for tobacco or alcohol in MOST cases.

Families are torn apart by social services because of cannabis and students can be and are denied federal loans and grants if ever convicted of possesing cannabis.
I do not think we treat murderers or child molesters in that way.

Sick and dying people are jailed for cannabis because it is the substance that helps them most,some have to flee the country in fear.Other's have died in jail.


Schools have been subjected to raids with armed men leading the way in an attempt to find a bag of weed in some locker or backpack.

The hemp industry has been stifled for decades because of the status of cannabis since 1937.Thinking of this alone,considering all that hemp is and can be...one might say the whole world has suffered because of the status of cannabis.

So one doesn't condone the use of alcohol or tobacco,which by the way are tenfold more harmful than cannabis at the least<do not need to be a scientist or a doctor to figure that out> but they are legal regardless.As a people we warn those that would use them,not jail them.We offer the choice to use or not, without fear from the DEA or our police or justice system.

We spend billions of tax payer's dollars in the vain attempt to erradicate cannabis and those that may have ANYTHING to do with it and of course we fail.We fail miserably but it still goes on moment after moment.

All this malice,all the human suffering,the greed and lies,all the resources used up everyday and all because of cannabis.

Is it really better than just letting people make their own choices? Or does it all do more harm than good?

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I just want to make a quick comment on this:

Filters, believe it or not, actually can do more harm than good for cigarette users. For the first few inhalations of the cigarette the filters work exactly like they are suppose to, but after a prolonged time of smoking a cigarette with a filter, the filter will breakdown and, in many cases, be inhaled, in chunks filled with what they were suppose to be blocking, directly into the lungs. As a result the filters do quite a bit of damage to the lungs in themselves (consiter inhaling glass and other fragments of metals, that it what is happening when you smoke filtered cigerattes).

Just wanted to point out that misrepresentation. Sorry Doc, but you should have checked your facts a few more times.

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