Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

[Mrs Behavin]

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes marijuana is potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects appear to be of less concern than previously thought.

Earlier work established that marijuana does contain cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, he said. However, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous.

ShoutWire - Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

 

[TheOriginalJames]

Didn't we have a thread about this before? The one where JMilley decided that "he was right" against my arguement, even though I never said MJ lead to lung cancer.

 

[Maritxu]

So I can go to amsterdam in summer with no worries...

 

[!]

Re: RE: Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

So I can go to amsterdam in summer with no worries...

only if you take me with you!

 

[Maritxu]

Ok, we are going camping, we get there on 15 of Agoust, is it ok with you?

 

[JMilley]

Re: RE: Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

Didn't we have a thread about this before? The one where JMilley decided that "he was right" against my arguement, even though I never said MJ lead to lung cancer.

I'm always right

 

[TheOriginalJames]

Re: RE: Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

Didn't we have a thread about this before? The one where JMilley decided that "he was right" against my arguement, even though I never said MJ lead to lung cancer.

I'm always right

Right... handed?

 

[JMilley]

actually I'm left handed

I win

 

[!]

article:

Marijuana tied to precancerous lung changes

July 14 2006 at 10:36AM

New York - Smoking marijuana can cause changes in lung tissue that may promote cancer growth, according to a review of decades of research on marijuana smoking and lung cancer.

Still, it is not possible to directly link pot use to lung cancer based on existing evidence.

More than 40 percent of Americans 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, Dr Reena Mehra of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and her colleagues point out.

"Given the widespread use of marijuana, its use for what are believed to be medicinal purposes, and the increasing abuse and dependence on this substance, it is important to examine potential adverse clinical consequences," they write in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

To investigate whether marijuana smoking might lead to precancerous changes in the lungs or lung cancer, Mehra and her team reviewed 19 studies of the topic.

Analyses of sputum and lung tissue performed in some of these studies found more cancer-promoting changes in pot smokers than in cigarette smokers or non-smokers, including oxidative stress, dysfunction of tumor-fighting cells, changes in tissue structure and DNA alterations, the researchers report.

However, none of the studies they analysed found evidence that marijuana smoking actually caused lung cancer, after factoring in the effects of tobacco use.

"We must conclude that no convincing evidence exists for an association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer based on existing data," Mehra and her team write.

Nevertheless, they add, the precancerous changes seen in studies included in their analysis - as well as the fact that marijuana smokers generally inhale more deeply and hold smoke in their lungs longer than cigarette smokers, and that marijuana is smoked without a filter - do suggest that smoking pot could indeed boost lung cancer risk.

It is known, they add, that marijuana smoking deposits more tar in the lungs than cigarette smoking does.

The failure to find a marijuana-lung cancer link may have been due to methodological flaws in existing research, rather than the absence of such a link, the researchers say.

Doctors should advise their patients that marijuana does indeed have potential adverse effects, they conclude, including causing precancerous changes in the lungs.

 

[horseshoeing]

This is a lie...................... Everything cause cancer

 

[robedwards99]

It may not give you cancer but you really wouldn't be worried anyway with the paranoia and schizofrenia (sp!) to keep you company after years of smoking it.

 

[!]

It may not give you cancer but you really wouldn't be worried anyway with the paranoia and schizofrenia (sp!) to keep you company after years of smoking it.

eh? some people get paronia while under the influence but it isn't a long lasting effect, and i have never heard of someone getting schizophrenia from it, however the major side affect is short term memory loss!!!

 

[BooFetus]

Marijuana doesn't even has effects on a fetus while the mother is pregnant. It doesn't kill anybody (healt- wise). You may die while under the influence (was high and got in a car accident), but health- wise, marijuana does nothing but give you the munchies.

 

[robedwards99]

eh? some people get paronia while under the influence but it isn't a long lasting effect, and i have never heard of someone getting schizophrenia from it, however the major side affect is short term memory loss!!!

I very quick search uncovered this interesting article..

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/325/7374/1183

..it maybe worth you reading it.

Rob.

 

[99mustang232]

eh? some people get paronia while under the influence but it isn't a long lasting effect, and i have never heard of someone getting schizophrenia from it, however the major side affect is short term memory loss!!!

I very quick search uncovered this interesting article..

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/325/7374/1183

..it maybe worth you reading it.

Rob.

I read your article and found the following statements worth re-reading;

"The explanation most accepted is that cannabis triggers the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in predisposed people and also exacerbates the symptoms generally."

"Whether the use of cannabis triggers the onset of schizophrenia or depression in otherwise vulnerable people or whether it actually causes these conditions in non-predisposed people is not yet resolved."

 

[horseshoeing]

Re: RE: Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

Marijuana doesn't even has effects on a fetus while the mother is pregnant. It doesn't kill anybody (healt- wise). You may die while under the influence (was high and got in a car accident), but health- wise, marijuana does nothing but give you the munchies.

You must be a pot smoker

 

[Hurt911gen]

we have plenty of them on here. oh wait.

 

[horseshoeing]

I think even V likes to take a hit now and then

 

[Hurt911gen]

one hit won't get you high. unless maybe you are using a gravity bong, which I'm sure V has never seen. I don't want my forum mods to be stoned.

 

[robedwards99]

I've got nothing against people who smoke pot.. I used to smoke on a daily basis but gave up due to not getting any enjoyment out of it any more.