Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Mar

[Puffin13]

Top Anti-Drug Researcher Changes His Mind, Says Legalize Marijuana

For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here's what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws:

"Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects," Tashkin says. "But at this point, I'd be in favor of legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm." [McClatchy]

We've been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it's 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it's time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn't expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that's what happened and he's willing to admit it.

Here's the study that really turned things around:

UCLA's Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.

"What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect," says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted.

Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that's what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research.

Over and over again, all the bad things we've been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world's leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization.

Source

[Toker70]

Nice one Puffin i must print this out and show it to all the doubters i know

[Kingdoc]

Its nice to see these people speaking out! normaly they are simply silenced,You are lucky to get like a 3/4 line article deep inside the newspaper on page 30 or something.

[lampshade]

Another bites the dust

[happydaze777]

I am all for legalisation but not from a health perspective. This guy is a bit bonkers, to say smoking cannabis would not increase your risk of cancers associated with smoking, is as about nonsensical as Gordon Brown winning the next election (or any election). It is the act of combusting the tobacco, not really the tobacco itself, that causes all of the harm. If you look at the list of chemicals produced from combusting cannabis and combusting tobacco (available in the hash museum!) they are virtually identical.

Cannabis should be legalised and legislated against (as should all drugs in my humble opinion) for many many very good reasons, but we should be honest about the obvious risks (which do not and never have included mental health issues!).

Vaporising negates so much of this risk.

[Ingwey Gooblebogger]

If you look at the list of chemicals produced from combusting cannabis and combusting tobacco (available in the hash museum!) they are virtually identical.

I am not so sure about that one.

However, there is evidence that the cannabinoids (chiefly THC), have a preventative (or protective) effect on the lungs, re cancer.

Other effects, due to inhaling hot smoke (of any kind) at 300-400 degrees, could still occur from cannabis.

I prefer to either vaporise it or to use edibles/tinctures to smoking.

[colinzeal]

If you look at the list of chemicals produced from combusting cannabis and combusting tobacco (available in the hash museum!) they are virtually identical.

I am not so sure about that one.

However, there is evidence that the cannabinoids (chiefly THC), have a preventative (or protective) effect on the lungs, re cancer.

Other effects, due to inhaling hot smoke (of any kind) at 300-400 degrees, could still occur from cannabis.

I prefer to either vaporise it or to use edibles/tinctures to smoking.

absolutely.
smoking anything is damaging.
smoking joints means smoking paper....
cannabis does not have the same cancer causing carcinogens as found in tobbacco

vaping is the healthy choice!

[happydaze777]

If you look at the list of chemicals produced from combusting cannabis and combusting tobacco (available in the hash museum!) they are virtually identical.

I am not so sure about that one.

However, there is evidence that the cannabinoids (chiefly THC), have a preventative (or protective) effect on the lungs, re cancer.

Other effects, due to inhaling hot smoke (of any kind) at 300-400 degrees, could still occur from cannabis.

I prefer to either vaporise it or to use edibles/tinctures to smoking.

Sorry, I may have exagerated with the words virtually identical. The point I was trying to make it is the chemical reaction of combustion that creates lots of the harmful chemicals found in smoke.

Heres and interesting bit of science looking into this...

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/tx7 ... ookieSet=1

Science: Qualitative similar composition of cannabis and tobacco
smoke

Canadian researches investigated the chemical composition of cannabis and tobacco smoke. Smoking of cannabis and tobacco cigarettes, which weighed about 800 mg was carried out on smoking machines. The results showed qualitative similarities with some quantitative differences. With a normal tobacco smoke rhythm, the smoke of both tobacco and cannabis
cigarettes contained an average of about 40 mg tar. Following a more intense inhalation to simulate usual cannabis smoking the amount of tar by cigarette increased to 80-100 mg. Thus, the amount of inhaled noxious substances is less dependent from the smoked material than from the smoking pattern. The results are agreement with previous research.

With the same smoking pattern, ammonia was found in cannabis smoke at levels of about 20-fold greater than that found in tobacco, which according to the authors may have been due to higher nitrate levels in cannabis due to fertilization. Hydrogen cyanide was about 2.5 times, nitric oxide (NO) about 4 times and some aromatic amines were found in cannabis smoke at
concentrations 3-5 times those found in tobacco smoke. Tobacco-specific nitrosamines were not found in cannabis smoke. Concentrations of mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic as well as low-molecular weight carbonyl compounds (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, etc.) were found at considerably lower concentrations in cannabis smoke compared to tobacco
smoke. Cannabis smoke also contained somewhat less amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

(Source: Moir D, Rickert WS, Levasseur G, Larose Y, Maertens R, White P, Desjardins S. A Comparison of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco Cigarette Smoke Produced under Two Machine Smoking Conditions. Chem Res Toxicol. 2007 Dec 7 [Electronic publication ahead of
print])

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