My new spoon pipe + article showing smoking pot doesn'ty cause lung damage

[TTIC]

This is my new pipe, it's a small spoon pipe that's about 3" in length. I have yet to use it, but even though it's small I bet it hits nicely. It's thick glass, and I'll let you guess the price I paid for it - it was a real bargain.




Also, this is the second study to come out to show no link between marijuana use and developement of emphysema/COPD or other lung diseases that are prevalent among cigarette smokers. Interestingly enough there's also a study that came out last year finding no link between cannabis smoking and developing lung cancer. There's a study sponsored by the fred hutchison cancer center here in the greater seattle area that came out in 05 finding no link between oral cancer and cannabis smoking.

It seems from the evidence that cannabis smoking causes no long-term lung damage or cancer - but only produces short-term wheezing and increased cases of upper respitory infections like bronchitis and sinus infections, and that this is the only similarity between cannabis and cigarette smoking.

Minor Respiratory Complications, No Decrease In Pulmonary Function Associated With Long-Term Marijuana Smoking, Study Says

February 15, 2007 - West Haven, CT, USA

West Haven, CT: Long-term smoking of cannabis is associated with an elevated risk of respiratory complications, including an increase in cough, sputum production, and wheezing, but not a decline in pulmonary function, according to a review published in the February issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Investigators at the Yale University School of Medicine conducted a systematic review of studies published between 1966 and 2005 that assessed the effects of marijuana smoking on pulmonary function and respiratory complications.

The data failed to show an association between long-term marijuana smoking and airflow obstruction (emphysema), as measured by airway hyperreactivity, forced expiratory volume (FEV), and other measures, investigators reported. Short-term use of cannabis was associated with bronchodilation.

Investigators did find that long-term marijuana smoking was associated with an increased risk of certain respiratory complications -- including cough, bronchitis, phlegm, and wheezing. Most of these complications persisted even after researchers adjusted for tobacco smoking.

Previous reviews of long-term cannabis smoking have noted similar respiratory complications, though an association between cannabis use and lung and/or upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) cancers has not been found.

Authors suggested that cannabis inhalation via specialized delivery systems such as vaporizers would likely yield different results.

Cannabis vaporization limits users' intake of respiratory toxins by heating cannabis to a temperature where cannabinoid vapors form (typically around 180-190 degrees Celsius), but below the point of combustion where noxious smoke and associated toxins (e.g., carcinogenic hydrocarbons) are produced (near 230 degrees Celsius). According to clinical trial data published last year in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, vaporization is a "safe and effective" cannabinoid delivery system for individuals desiring the rapid onset associated with inhalation, but who wish to avoid the respiratory risks of smoking.

"The final pulmonal uptake of THC is comparable to the smoking of cannabis, while avoiding the respiratory disadvantages of smoking," investigators in that study reported.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Effects of marijuana smoking on pulmonary functions and respiratory complications: a systemic review" appears in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

updated: Feb 15, 2007

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7179

 

[Northern_Greens]

BUUUUUULLLLLLLLLSHHHHHITTTTTTt

srry i shouldnt say that right away, while a vapo does help REDUCE it does not eliminate the toxins...although reading back through it. it seems kind of odd that it wouldnt cause something like cancer in you, just thinkin that all smoke is bad in your lungs pot, tobacco or otherwise....

 

[Guest]

Well, what in cannabis smoking creates the toxins which are harmful to inhale? with vaporizing your heating it up so you can pull all that THC off of the plant matter without inhaling the carcinogens.

It's not all that silly to think that cannabis smoke wouldn't harm the lungs as much as say tobacco, as they are chemically different. They pretty much are saying that inhaling cannabis plant matter isn't going to do long term damage because it pretty much just clogs up your lungs a bit.

 

[marx2k]

To compare the pulmonary hazards of smoking marijuana and tobacco, we quantified the relative burden to the lung of insoluble particulates (tar) and carbon monoxide from the smoke of similar quantities of marijuana and tobacco. The 15 subjects, all men, had smoked both marijuana and tobacco habitually for at least five years. We measured each subject's blood carboxyhemoglobin level before and after smoking and the amount of tar inhaled and deposited in the respiratory tract from the smoke of single filter-tipped tobacco cigarettes (900 to 1200 mg) and marijuana cigarettes (741 to 985 mg) containing 0.004 percent or 1.24 percent delta 9-tetrahydrocanabinol. As compared with smoking tobacco, smoking marijuana was associated with a nearly fivefold greater increment in the blood carboxyhemoglobin level, an approximately threefold increase in the amount of tar inhaled, and retention in the respiratory tract of one third more inhaled tar (P less than 0.001). Significant differences were also noted in the dynamics of smoking marijuana and tobacco, among them an approximately two-thirds larger puff volume, a one-third greater depth of inhalation, and a fourfold longer breath-holding time with marijuana than with tobacco (P less than 0.01). Smoking dynamics and the delivery of tar during marijuana smoking were only slightly influenced by the percentage of tetrahydrocanabinol. We conclude that smoking marijuana, regardless of tetrahydrocannabinol content, results in a substantially greater respiratory burden of carbon monoxide and tar than smoking a similar quantity of tobacco.

Pulmonary hazards of smoking marijuana as compared with tobacco
TC Wu, DP Tashkin, B Djahed, and JE Rose

Volume 318:347-351 February 11, 1988 Number 6

 

[Guest]

my 2 cents are: through out evolution humans have lived in caves, tents, igloo's, etc..
Most of these have a very small "out vent", and humans had to stay warm by fire in the home. Point being we (humans) have been in very close proximity to the smoke of our fires. Inhailing all sorts of nasty toxins into our lungs and blood. By now i am convinced that a little canna smoke here and there isnt going to kill anyone (right away). yeah, we might give up a couple-few years for the indulgence of many years. I just wish they would clean up the air i breath between my vapor hits. I mean hell; look outside L.A. it looks like one huge vapor bag! Friggin' smog and other chemicals are killing us ?X faster than our cannabis. I feel we have adapted to smoke in general, in the home, on the battle field, and in relaxation. I feel we can not adapt to chemical changes in our enviroment, due to they dont follow the same laws of nature as we do.

Cannabismavin,

 

[Verger OG]

BUUUUUULLLLLLLLLSHHHHHITTTTTTt

srry i shouldnt say that right away, while a vapo does help REDUCE it does not eliminate the toxins...although reading back through it. it seems kind of odd that it wouldnt cause something like cancer in you, just thinkin that all smoke is bad in your lungs pot, tobacco or otherwise....

But that is the point. vaporizer do not create smoke.