DOES SMOKING POT CAUSE LUNG CANCER

2009.04.03

Does smoking cannabis increase your chances of getting lung cancer? This question has been explored by different studies by many doctors and scientists. The consensus so far is that even smoking pot over a long period has indicated that nothing has been proven to support this medical issue.

 

Though smoking in general has been proven unhealthy, cancer of the lungs, airwaves and esophagus is far more attributed to smoking tobacco than compared to the use of marijuana even in higher doses.

 

In a meeting of the International Cannabinoid  Research Society   a researcher  named Donald Tashkin put forth conclusions to the university-based as well as the assembled drug company scientists  (who all get funding from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse) that he had  irrefutable proof cannabis use did not  increase the risk of cancer compared to non users. Studies included the research on a molecular level with samples being biopsied for there presence of malignant cancer cells.

 

Though his original thoughts and findings may have been different due to his first studies, an independent article put out by Stephen Sydney that examined over 64,000 Kaiser Patients found cannabis use did not increase the risk of lung cancer or the risk of an earlier mortality rate. Five smaller studies were done with about 300 patients but only two-showed smoking cannabis increased the possibilities of someone getting different forms of cancer. 

 

It took a study conducted by the Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance program who provided Tashkin’s team with  the names of 1,209 LA residents that were 59 years of age or younger who had some form of cancer that showed some conclusive evidence. 611 people had lung cancer, 403 had oral/pharyngeal cancer, 90 with laryngeal cancer and finally 108 people had esophageal cancer. Their lifetime histories were studied to measure the use of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol abuse and the use of other drugs. In addition, their diets, occupational exposure, family history of cancer as well as other socio-demographic factors were included in this study to make it as accurate as possible.

The study was performed by gauging how many joints on average were smoked per day in one year by the patients. The results were surprising to quite few skeptics of marijuana. It turned out of the 1,209 patients 46 % of them never smoked a joint in their life, 31 % smoked less than 1 joint per year, 12 % indulged in 10-30 joints per year , 2% smoked up to 30 - 60 and 3 % puffed more than 60 joints in a years time. Age, gender and environmental conditions were also used as controls to calculate the risks associated with marijuana causing cancer of the lung or upper airwaves.

 

As it turned out it was found that less than 1% of marijuana users got cancer from enjoying the occasional use of cannabis. Smoking tobacco mind you showed a 21 fold increased risk if you smoked even two packs a day. So clearly having a toke may not be bad as having a cigarette.