Posted on August 9, 2007 in Latest News
Do you know this fact - smoking a single joint of weed can affect your breathing capacity as same as five cigarettes does. The researchers claim that because cannabis users inhale more deeply and joints are smoked without a filter, smoking weed is bad for the lungs.
A research study done by the researchers from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand finds this effect of smoking weed. The study was done on 339 volunteers who were divided into 4 categories: who smoked only cannabis, who smoked only tobacco, who smoked both, and who smoked neither.
Those who smoked only cannabis were defined as those who had smoked one joint a day for five years. Those who smoked only tobacco smokers were defined as those who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for at least one year.
The volunteers’ lings were scanned by computed tomography (CT) and also their airflow or respiratory efficiency was tested.
It is found that tobacco smokers - both tobacco-only and combined users - have emphysema, a degenerative and crippling lung disease. Cannabis smokers suffered from wheeze, cough, phlegm and chest tightness, which tobacco smokers also suffered from.
CT scan also found that cannabis smokers also suffered from damage to their lungs. This damage happened in small fine airways that carry in oxygen and take away waste gases. As a result, the smokers’ lungs had to work harder.
The more the number of joints smoked the more the damage is. In fact, each joint can impair lung efficiency equivalent to what two and a half and five cigarettes can do.
So, stop smoking weed if you do, to save your lungs.
» Filed Under Latest News
August 27th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
this article that you have posted is not a good example or test you have no supporting evidence other than as you said(reserchers claim) i can claim all day the sky is green and elephants fly. it has been proven that 100% of effects from smoking marijuana (in glass not joints)is reversable by simply not smoking for as little as 6 months. (that is for a seasoned smoker 2+ years) Get your fax streight ty
September 18th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Why is it that all of these biased studies that talk about negative effects of marijuana use joints as the method of consumption?? From my many years of experience, joints are only an occasional method for most smokers. NORML and preferred methods are glass pipes or water pipes or better yet vaporizers which work to filter out and eliminate the more harmful smoke contents. Smoking a joint is by far worst for you than any other method because it does not allow anything to be filtered out and that is why these bogus “studies” use them. The want to maximize whatever harmful effect they are trying to claim in the experiment. Also many of these harmful effects that are exaggerated are tested for short term effects only and not overall long term effects. You want to compare marijuana with tobacco?? Go look in countries where marijuana is consumed on a daily basis during the extent of the peoples lives and in the absence of tobacco use, like Jamaica. Health problems are almost non-existent in relation to marijuana-only use and cancer rates are the same as for non-smokers, that is REAL LIFE PROOF! Not some government funded study with a pre-determined outcome! Worried about the minimal and reversable effects? Then go get a vaporizer!!!
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:46 am
Smoking of weed is not bad for you what so ever. If you go back and look in the past, when have you heard of anybody dying from smoking weed?? Thats right never. I have a relative who had lung cancer to the point where the doctor told her she only had a month to live, but she lived for about another year, and he said it was cause of her smoking that she stayed longer then he gave her. my 2nd point is. Weed only have 3 side effects which is part of everyday life. Hunger, which everybody has to eat or they would die.2 drowsy, which every body has to sleep or else they would go crazy, and 3, happy. casue after u eat and sleep u feel well rested.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
listen buddy, my mans right about smoking out of a glass. its healthier. But also, when you smoke cigarettes your inhaling all the bad substances. Weed not so much. and some people inhale weed like they do cigarettes. and wat about brownies.. you need to do more researcg ty
October 29th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I love it when “itellects” respond to studies such as this. Smoking, regardless of what you are smoking and with what type of device, has been proven in numerous studies to cause some degree of lung disease. The degree to which you may have disease has much to do with family history etc. How do I know this? Pulmonary Medicine is my profession. I am a licensed Respiratory Therapist is the state of Michigan. I work for a major healthcare provider here, which is also world reknown. I have over 15 years experience with this very thing and see the effects, whether it be cigarettes, pot or crack. So keep smoking if you’d like and no one will need to provide you with anything, you will prove it to yourself - believe what you’d like. but every habit has its consequences, if you want to believe it or not. By the way, it has already affected your ability to use proper grammar and spelling.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:16 am
im a weed smoker and after reading this article i would have to agree with everything that has been stated. the last four responses are from angry morons who rather have it praised than criticized. smoking weed damages your lungs and causes shortness of breath. its a horrible symptom and the only way to alleviate the cause is to stop smoking. easier said than done and though the truth is often hard to hear its also what needs to be heard.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Smoking anything will damage your lungs, including marijuana. Where this study may be flawed is in the fact that the average for marijuana use per joint is far less than the average for tobacco use per cigarette.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I read all these article and as much as you all argue about smokeing giving u cancer..HELLO what these days doesn’t? at some point in our lives we will all suffer from some disease..its life..dont blame weed..the only reason weed isnt legal is because the goverment cant tax it..it a presicbtion to cancer patintes, doctors will tell u they rathe ru smoke weed than cigarets, it also is a good nerve & muscle relaxer..diss weed all u want..people r still goin 2 smoke it. everyone has a habit in life…gambling, drinking, smokeing, pills, sex, ect… if ur focus in life is to get people to stop smokeing..godd luck..it’ll b legalize before u even come close.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:07 am
its black market weed that is dangerous. I can’t believe the media doesn’t ever pick up on the fact that million+ people in the UK alone smoke weed that has been grown by large criminal rings, that don’t give a hoot what chemicals are left on the plant. Would it not be better if the masses were smoking organic bud? Even better vaporizing organic bud? I don’t believe grass is a dangerous drug, however the best reasons for legalising it is because of the inherant risks attached to the product.
peace
May 1st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I think that weed can both help and hurt a person.in moderation it helps,but if abused it can and will cause lung cancer. Hay i smoke weed and lung cancer is something i will have to face if i keep the habbit, so if you dont want lung cancer the dont smoke weed or tobacco.i might quit when im older {im 22} in case i want to have kids or something…. but it could be too late!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I love to smoke weed. Yeah, I know it’s bad for you, but it’s soo good. P.s. I think I’m addicted.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Some of you guys are retarded! Smoking weed is stupid and affective to your body. If you go to class and talk to professionals that say smoking weed is bad, AND THEY SHOW YOU TEST AND PROOF, you gotta be crazy to still smoke it.
May 17th, 2008 at 5:01 am
i recently quit smoking cigs’, but i still smoke weed, i love the way it feels when im high, but i am worried about my lungs, i would like to know if a vaporizer would be completly safe, or do i have to start making brownies? wich would make more sense, becuse if u think about it, it takes alot more weed to make brownies, but that can get expensive, but if it was legal then u can consume as much as you like, or enuff to get you right,wich means that if god put it here for us to benefit from it, then i think it most likely is intended to be consumed oraly, because we have to keep it real, it makes you feel good, so how can it be bad?(think about it)
May 27th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Um here is an article which says the complete opposite, and it has a bigger group of people tested(339 in yours, 5,263 in mine), so its more believable.
http://businessshrink.biz/psychologyofbusiness/2008/03/04/researchers-say-marijuana-is-less-of-a-drag-than-cigarettes/
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 am
I’ve been a hardcore stoner for the past 25 days (smoking all 25 days) and I can tell being silver for almost 24 hours has made me crave for a little bit of weed, and when I jog I can defenitely feel it. Before smoking this past month I’ve only smoked maybe 30 times before. What i’m trying to say is I can feel the symtoms when I am running and it messes up my eating habbits. By eating habits I mean I don’t feel hungry unless i’m high or don’t eat for 10 hours. It also causes me to sleep a few extra hours than normal(And I like to sleep a lot already). I’ve also lost my job because I slept those few extra hours that I been doing for almost 2 years prior to smoking weed. So yes the truth hurts, and I agree with roflcopter, but it needs to be said.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I think Weed is a bad thing most people say it gets rid of their stress but really it is reall making it worse
June 15th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
smoking weed does not cause lung cancer, and can possibly help the lungs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html?referrer=digg
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hello Rena.
Has it affected our ability to use proper grammar and spelling?
Let us not be hypocrites then, aye? You begin with “itellects” and go on to use terrible grammar, not to mention that you informing us that you are a licensed Respiratory Therapist (as opposed to an unlicensed one) is a bit ridiculous. I smoke pot, I love pot, and yet I hold two Masters and am considering a PhD. And guess what? I’ve read many studies where weed, after long-term use in chronic users (we’re talking a good forty - fifty years here), shows early signs of emphysema. Hell, if I get to enjoy life and that’s all I have to pay for, take it. Who wants to live till they’re ninety anyhow?
P.S. Rena, just because you know how to use the spellchecker in the box does not give you the right to put down others.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:04 am
i smoke crack and it releases stress i am stressed because i have a big head and a balled patch
July 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
you must be gay to smoke
July 9th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
IT AINT BAD.. I LOVE WEED..IT JUST REALLY MAKES ME SLEEPY THATS WHY I ONLY DO IT WEEKENDS!!! WEEDS GOOD FOR UR HEALTH!!!
July 16th, 2008 at 3:19 am
the two people above me are so wrong..
i smoke weed everday all day. i am 16.
yes i have smoked out of anything you can think of.
my dad had cancer and started smoking weed,, he got rid of it and never needed treatment.
u all r gay mother fuckers that think weed is bad for you