Marijuana.com

Mr. Socks

Hello everybody,
I have looked around on the internet for the long term effects of marijuana and all i found is that you could get lung cancer and respiratory problems. My brother has smoked for a long time and he says that his short term memory is all mest up, but i haven't read anything like that on the internet. Will somebody tell me all the long term effects of marijuana?
Thanks,
Mr. Socks

 

fgh

i think da man will say anything 2 get us 2 quit smokin. all i know iz i feel alot better when i smoke & awful when i don't!

Raised Fist

Actually, no, there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that you get lung cancer. In fact, a couple studies show that THC reduces the size of tumors. Also, it doesn't casue respitory problems, it increases your lung capicity by 4 folds, and opens up your small air ways.

About your brother, he may have suffered some lost short term memory, but all of that will return if he took a break. Other studies that compared marijuana users and nonusers found that there is no cognitive damage at all.

So don't think your going to become a burn-out, thats just Reefer Madness

DaDornta

Smoking destroys the cillia in your lungs. These little tiny hairs help remove muccous from your lungs, and once they are damaged/gone you develop a "smoker's cough". If you've smoked enough and been around enough potheads you can identify the cough instantly.

This cough can lead to lung infections, pnemonia, and emphasema. You might not get cancer, but your certainly not doing your lungs any favors by smoking burnt plant material.

Yes, pot smoke does open the tiny air passages, this is the "lung expanding" feeling you somtimes feel after you hold a hit in for a few seconds. But you are depositing ash and tar on your lungs which impede the normal function of the lungs.

So yes, to much pot smoke will cause respitory problems...sorry guys.

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Raised Fist

"Meanwhile, some researchers are worried about another aspect of marijuana smoke - its ability to interfere with immune cells that help to fight off lung infections. Tashkin's team has just discovered that immune cells isolated from the lungs of marijuana users are unusually bad at killing bacteria, 35 per cent worse, in fact, than similar cells taken from cigarette smokers. The marijuana-exposed cells were also below par at producing molecules needed to mount inflammatory responses. In normal marijuana smokers, the effects may be too slight to make much difference. Tashkin fears, however, that the same might not be true in people with AIDS, many of whom use cannabis to stimulate their appetites."

Yeah, it does leave your immune system sorta open, but if you don't have AIDS you don't really need to worry.

"There's some good news, though, for dope-smoking cricketers and footballers: marijuana smoke won't lead to blocked airways or emphysema. Despite all the cellular changes noted by Tashkin's team, the researchers found that even heavy smoking of marijuana had no impact on any physical measure of lung function. In fact, among their subjects, smoking three joints per day caused no greater rate of decline in lung capacity and the ability to breathe than smoking no marijuana per day."

This article seems to differ.
newscientist.com/hottopics/marijuana/lungs.jsp if your interested.

 

fgh

well people do research & stuff, but i think any smoke in da lungs isn't a good thing......

but i luv 2 smoke so it doesn't really matter huh?

CheebaMonkey

Smoking cannabis does not cause emphysema.

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Mamabudz

Man has been living around combustion since he learned how to take a flaming twig and light a fire to warm his cave.

Smoke from combustion itself does not kill cilia. IN fact cilia and it's movement of mucous is an adaption to clearing irritating particulate matter, such as ash, from the nasal membranes.

A "smoker's cough" can be caused by a variety of things and the term is used to describer a variety of coughs. An expectorant or wet cough that produces phlegm, mucous that has trapped in it particulate matter, is actually a sign of your cilia working correctly and well.

If the mucous is colored green, thick yellow or *****, has an ordor has blood in it or is anything other than Clear or White and reasonably thin, there is an indication of some complications caused to the mucousal tissue of which cilia are a part.

Some damage is caused by the heavy metals such as salt peter added to commercially produced ciggarettes to keep them lit and from tars specific to the tobacco plant.

There are no heavy metals added to marijuana flowers. The resinous tar found in marijuana flower is not synonymous with the tarry substance that remains from burning tobacco leaf.

Still inhaling hot burning combustible matter is an irritant and will irritate your throat, esophagus, nose, trachea, and possibly your esophogeal orifice. ANy irritation is similar to a cut on the sklin and bacteria can enter the closed system of the body. If the immune system is compromised by anything, that bacteria can gain a foot hold and make you ill.

If your immune system is compromised, you can become more easily infected by bacteria than a person with a healthy immune system. Irritation of the lungs by hot matter and coughing might make one more susceptible to bacterial infection in the respiratory system so bronchitis and pneumonia would be possible concerns.

These are reasons why alternative forms of ingestion are so important in the medical marijuana community. Eating and subligual medications are often used and vaporizers such as the volcano are quite popular. And of course the old stand by, a short hit off an iced bong or a water pipe with cold water are much easier on the throat and lungs.

GW Pharmeceuticals in the UK has just licenced with Bayer International to bring Sativex, a sublingual cannabinoid spray made from the plant for use as a pain reliever, appetite inducer, migraine medication and asthma medication, to Canada within the year.

Other purposes will be considered once the initial approval is met.

portablefriend

Thanks Mama Budz, very informational.

toke care,

`pf

TiKiTiKi

god dang does mamabudz always have great information or what

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If I won the lotto, i'd buy pounds of bud
give it to my homies to show I got love