Marijuana Doesn't Cause Lung Cancer, Says Medical Researcher

Jagat · 06-12-2001, 05:21 AM

It's time to quit, doctor tells middle-aged pot users

DANIEL LEBLANC
With a report from Reuters
Tuesday, June 12, 2001

OTTAWA -- Middle-aged pot users face a fivefold increase in the risk of a heart attack in the hour after they smoke the drug, which makes it slightly riskier for baby boomers than strenuous exercise such as sex, a new study says.

"The risk with marijuana use was a little higher than what was observed for sexual intercourse," said Dr. Murray Mittleman, director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Dr. Mittleman said his study comes at a critical time, because "marijuana use in the age group prone to coronary artery disease is higher than it was in the past."

The risk of a heart attack starts increasing in men at about age 45, and a few years later in women.

"As with any risk factor for heart attack, or for heart disease in general, the risks become more pertinent as we grow older. Marijuana use is no exception," Dr. Mittleman said.

A Canadian expert on the medical hazards of marijuana said the study sent a simple message to middle-aged drug users: "It's probably a good time to quit," said Dr. Harold Kalant, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Kalant said that young people's hearts are simply stronger and can better withstand the impacts of drug-induced euphoria.

"The cardiac workload is increased. For young people, that doesn't mean anything, they can easily adapt. But for older people, the increased workload on the heart will be a risk factor for a heart attack," he said.

Dr. Kalant added that most marijuana smokers quit before they reach their 40s anyway. "As they get on with their careers, I think, they don't like the memory problems, the fuzzy-headedness and so on."

Smoking marijuana causes the heart rate to increase -- often doubling it -- while altering blood pressure, according to the study. It may also trigger a heart attack by causing the formation of a clot, blocking the flow of blood to the heart muscle.

The researchers said that smoking marijuana can also increase the heart's demand for oxygen, while at the same time decreasing oxygen.

Dr. Mittleman added that cocaine use is much riskier, causing about a 25-fold increased risk of a heart attack during the first hour.

During their investigation, researchers found a few people who engaged in both sexual intercourse and marijuana use just before their heart attack, but not enough to scientifically determine whether the combination of the two further increased the health risk.

The study appeared in the journal Circulation, published by the American Heart Association. It is based on interviews with almost 4,000 people who had heart attacks, including 124 marijuana smokers.

During the study, researchers found nine patients who reported smoking marijuana within one hour of the onset of heart attack symptoms. Researchers calculated the estimated risk by comparing the frequency of marijuana use before heart attack symptoms began, to the frequency of marijuana use over the previous year.

The study came just as the Senate continued its hearings into illegal drugs in Ottawa, and most notably on whether marijuana laws should be loosened.

Dr. Kalant warned the committee members that a liberalization of marijuana possession laws would lead "to an increase in use and in adverse affects."

Dr. John Morgan, a professor of pharmacology at the City University of New York Medical School, countered that experience shows that looser drug laws do not lead to an increase in drug use.

06-12-2001, 06:11 AM

Marijuana Doesn't Cause Lung Cancer, Says Medical Researcher

Source: Canoe (Canada)

Published: June 11, 2001

Marijuana Doesn't Cause Lung Cancer, Says Medical Researcher

Smoking marijuana does not seem to cause lung cancer, emphysema or cause birth
anomalies in fetuses, a prominent U.S. researcher told a Senate committee Monday.

John P. Morgan of City University of New York Medical School said heavy marijuana
smokers do show some symptoms of lung damage, such as coughing, frequent colds and bronchitis, but not the
life-threatening conditions seen among tobacco smokers.

"We are some 30 to 40 years into this marijuana epidemic and still have not seen evidence of pulmonary cancer
in marijuana smokers."

He was speaking before a special Senate committee reassessing federal legislation and polices on marijuana.

Morgan said there are reasons to believe the heavy smoker of cannabis will not succumb to emphysema, a
condition frequent among cigarette smokers.

He said cannabis contains just as many harmful compounds and irritants as tobacco, but even heavy marijuana
smokers - those who consume four to six joints daily - don't smoke nearly as much as tobacco smokers.

"The critical issue is the amount of smoke inhaled."

He said marijuana smokers have slightly more respiratory complaints than non-smokers, but the difference is so
small that it is of no practical significance.

Morgan also criticized research purporting to show fetal damage among women who smoke marijuana and
scoffed at the theory that marijuana is a gateway leading to hard drugs.

"Many critics in the United States have decided that marijuana incites some biochemical trance that leads people
to tramp the streets looking for heroin and cocaine."

But statistics show that most marijuana smokers never go on to other drugs, he said. "There is no gateway, there
is no credible gateway theory."

He said prohibition of marijuana only makes young people more interested in trying it.

Rates of marijuana use in The Netherlands, where the drug is freely available, he said, are lower than in the
United States where it is banned.

Morgan conceded that marijuana smokers are impaired for several hours after smoking.

People who are high should not drive, babysit, mow the lawn or enter into marital contracts, he said.

He attributed opposition to decriminalization of marijuana to what he called "the drug-law industrial complex" in
the United States.

"I don't believe anyone should go to jail for using a psychoactive substance," Morgan told the committee.

amanpeter · 06-12-2001, 07:32 AM

Quote:

People who are high should not drive, babysit, mow the lawn or enter into marital contracts, he said.

...and grocery shopping isn't advised either! As for 4-6 joints being considered heavy smoking--Ha! How about continuous puffing from morning to night? My lungs definitely incurred damage similar to emphysema. Some flexibility of the tissues is lost and chronic bhronchial infections are much more likely. Holding in huge tokes until smoke started coming out my ears might have had something to do with it...

------------------
No offense meant to anyone...

[This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 06-12-2001).]

dasanudas · 06-12-2001, 10:56 AM

During their investigation, researchers found a few people who engaged in both sexual intercourse and marijuana use just before their heart attack, but not enough to scientifically determine whether the combination of the two further increased the health risk.

Not the most noble consciousness to be caught in at the time of ones exit from this material world. They say first impressions are important but then so are last impressions.

JRdd · 06-13-2001, 04:49 PM

Hari bol, my daughter's semi-grosso comment yesterday was not aimed at the devotees here but at the people who undertook the research. I apolgize for my careless communicating. And sorry if it got up anyone's noses.

Jayaradhe

dasanudas · 06-14-2001, 10:55 AM

I'm not sure I even know what you mean. There's nothing up my nose other than maybe a little crystalized mucous shrouding the shrinking grey matter.