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Author Topic: Cannabis smoking not so harmless after all?
pooka
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Well, at least according to "European" scientists as reported on AOL. So it may be nothing. [Wink]

link

It's always seemed intuitive to me that inhaling smoke is not such a great idea.

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Lisa
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My freshman year in college, I was talking with a friend who was taking Psych 101. She told me how they were learning about oral fixations and such, and she said, "I can understand why someone might put something in their mouth. What I can't understand is what would possess them to set it on fire."
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Rakeesh
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Fire is cool?
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Itsame
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I saw this on BBC a while ago. I thought I made a post on it. [Frown] Maybe I forgot.
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adfectio
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quote:
Originally posted by Rakeesh:
Fire is cool?

Most definitely.
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Mike
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Hmm, maybe if cannabis is legalized and regulated we might start to see filters on joints. This seems like apples and oranges to me.
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Scott R
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike:
Hmm, maybe if cannabis is legalized and regulated we might start to see filters on joints. This seems like apples and oranges to me.

From the article:

quote:
scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.
I guess we'd need to find out whether the cigarette smoke they evaluated was unfiltered or not. Or... I suppose we could see how much bad chemicals the average cigarette filter keeps out.
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Qaz
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It's been known for a long time that smoking marijuana is more unhealthy than smoking tobacco, if only for the tar content. AFAIK there is still no evidence of permanent health damage from marijuana taken internally?
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Launchywiggin
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There's also the argument that Cannabis smokers rarely smoke more than a single joint, whereas cigarette smokers go through a pack a day.
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Scott R
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quote:
Originally posted by Launchywiggin:
There's also the argument that Cannabis smokers rarely smoke more than a single joint, whereas cigarette smokers go through a pack a day.

Good thing:

quote:
Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk

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pooka
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quote:
Originally posted by Qaz:
It's been known for a long time that smoking marijuana is more unhealthy than smoking tobacco, if only for the tar content. AFAIK there is still no evidence of permanent health damage from marijuana taken internally?

All those brownies might make you fat?

I thought I posted, but I don't see, it, whether you'd need to smoke more joints if they were filtered.

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The Rabbit
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It should be noted that it is very common for Cannabis smokers to share 1 joint between half a dozen people at a party once a week or so.

I'm sure their are exceptions where people smoke alot more marijuana, but its certainly a lot less common to smoke pot daily than to smoke cigarettes daily. That's true even in countries like the Netherlands where pot is legal.

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The Rabbit
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quote:
All those brownies might make you fat?
But no more so that regular brownies or those delectable chocolate chip cookies.


As an aside, in my experience tobacco smoking is far more prevalent among those who occasionally smoke pot than in the general populace. I wonder if that's a real phenomenon or just my small sample set.

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Strider
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I know many people who smoke pot but won't touch cigarettes. Don't know if it's the majority or not, or whether there's a statistically significant difference. I could only imagine though that if you smoke one substance you're probably more likely to smoke another substance than someone in the general populace. In my personal experience I don't see it as far more prevalent though.
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Lisa
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I think part of it is that pot smells yummy, and tobacco smells like a bus just pulled out in front of you.

Except maybe for some pipe tobaccos.

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Fyfe
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The smell of pot makes me gag and gives me a horrific headache...
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mr_porteiro_head
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I don't know what pot smells like.
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AvidReader
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I can't smell it. I just smell something burning.
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Strider
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quote:
As an aside, in my experience tobacco smoking is far more prevalent among those who occasionally smoke pot than in the general populace. I wonder if that's a real phenomenon or just my small sample set.
or an alternate way to look at it could be that people who smoke cigarettes are more likely to occasionally smoke pot than the general populace. Though I don't really know if that's true either.
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Avadaru
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Whenever I have a new bag I open it and it smells so yummy I want to eat it. I love the smell of (decent) marijuana. I rarely smoke joints, though, they are incredibly harsh, and waste the marijuana. I smoke with a bong (water pipe), so a lot of the harsher chemicals are filtered out through the water, and it's a much cleaner, more enjoyable smoke.
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Artemisia Tridentata
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Pot smoke makes me sneeze. Long ago, in another galaxy, I used to teach Junior High. Everyone in the school knew about my allergy. If I sneezed while correcting papers, someone was always quick to blame it on his or her older brother.
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Strider
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maybe smokers will start using vaporizers more regularly.

Though it's interesting how many smokers I know won't use a vaporizer because it "take the fun out of smoking pot".

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Noemon
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quote:
Originally posted by AvidReader:
I can't smell it. I just smell something burning.

So you've been in situations where there was unlit pot present, and you couldn't smell it at all? Is your sense of smell otherwise of normal acuity?
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Avadaru
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I would love to have a vaporizer, but they're incredibly expensive (the good ones, anyway). It's a much cleaner and healthier (not that smoking is healthy, I am not saying that) to smoke.
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Kwea
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Pot smells like a$$, IMO. I can tell the second someone enters the room if they have been smoking it. It smells that bad.
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BlueWizard
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Well, the truth is any foreign substance that gets into your lungs can cause cancer and other problems; sand, wood smoke, flour, dust, pollen, a wide assortment of toxic and non-toxic fumes, fake popcorn butter, the air in most big cities, and the list goes on.

I think when most people compare the dangers of alcohol to those of pot, the are comparing the danger of intoxication and addiction, not lung disease and other associated health problems.

So, I agree, Pot has a lot of tar, tar represent residue in your lungs, when ever a foreign reside lingers in your lungs, even if the reside is generally non-toxic, it still has the potential to cause problems; there is no getting around that.

Steve/bluewizard

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Elmer's Glue
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I've never been near pot, but freshman year a kid passed by me and I got a huge whiff of it. I could tell right away he was a pothead.
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Orincoro
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quote:
Originally posted by Strider:
maybe smokers will start using vaporizers more regularly.

Though it's interesting how many smokers I know won't use a vaporizer because it "take the fun out of smoking pot".

The vaporizers, according to Dr. Drew Live, don't significantly reduce the level of carcinogens in the inhalent. Although you are inhaling less of the ash and non-sticky stuff when you use them, you are still inhaling the part of the plant thought to be carcinogenic.

I remind everyone though, that pot smoking has not historically been connected with a particularly high incidence of cancer- probably because the average user uses less than does a tobacco user.

Pot also causes chronic bronchitis, which has a negative impact on heart and lung health, but is non-vaso-constrictive, so the toll on the heart is less than with chronic nicotine use.

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pH
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quote:
Originally posted by Launchywiggin:
There's also the argument that Cannabis smokers rarely smoke more than a single joint, whereas cigarette smokers go through a pack a day.

Seriously? The potheads I know go through well more than a joint a day, on average.

-pH

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AvidReader
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quote:
So you've been in situations where there was unlit pot present, and you couldn't smell it at all? Is your sense of smell otherwise of normal acuity?
I can't smell it in the bag or while being smoked, just the paper burning. My sense of smell is ok for things nearby and pretty lousy for anything far away. I'm the only person I know who can say, "Oh, a skunk got hit. That's unpleasant."
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Juxtapose
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quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
As an aside, in my experience tobacco smoking is far more prevalent among those who occasionally smoke pot than in the general populace. I wonder if that's a real phenomenon or just my small sample set.

My experience here agrees with yours.
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Samprimary
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quote:
"I can understand why someone might put something in their mouth. What I can't understand is what would possess them to set it on fire." [/QB]
"Three of the four elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it on back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It's not the tobacco we're after, but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lightning.
Does that mean that chain smokers are religious fanatics? You must admit there's a similarity.
The lung of the smoker is a naked virgin thrown as a sacrifice into the godfire."


~Tom Robbins

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PSI Teleport
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"I don't know what pot smells like."

I do. It was a pretty sad day when I realized that all those lame pot heads in school had the same distinctive aroma as my dad. *chortle*

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The Rabbit
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quote:
Originally posted by pH:
quote:
Originally posted by Launchywiggin:
There's also the argument that Cannabis smokers rarely smoke more than a single joint, whereas cigarette smokers go through a pack a day.

Seriously? The potheads I know go through well more than a joint a day, on average.

-pH

Yes, but most of the people who smoke pot wouldn't qualify as potheads just like most people who drink aren't alcoholics. Most of the pot smokers I've known are social users. If they are at a party and a joint is being passed around, they'll take a hit. They may even bring some weed to a party, but they don't sit at home every night getting high.
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The Rabbit
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Below is the abstract from an interesting study published in 1997

quote:
Marijuana and tobacco use among young adults in Canada: are they smoking what we think they are smoking? Scott T. Leatherdale, David G. Hammond, Murray Kaiserman and Rashid Ahmed

Abstract The authors characterized marijuana smoking among young adult Canadians, examined the co-morbidity of tobacco and marijuana use, and identified correlates associated with different marijuana use consumption patterns. Data were collected from 20,275 individuals as part of the 2004 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey. Logistic regression models were conducted to examine characteristics associated with marijuana use behaviors among young adults (aged 15–24). Rates of marijuana use were highest among current smokers and lowest among never smokers. Marijuana use was more prevalent among males, young adults living in rural areas, and increased with age. Young adults who were still in school were more likely to have tried marijuana, although among those who had tried, young adults outside of school were more like to be heavy users. Males and those who first tried marijuana at an earlier age also reported more frequent marijuana use. These findings illustrate remarkably high rates of marijuana use and high co-morbidity of tobacco use among young adult Canadians. These findings suggest that future research should consider whether the increasing popularity of marijuana use among young adults represents a threat to the continuing decline in tobacco use among this population.

So evidently my experience in this area is consistent with broader research. There is indeed a correlation between pot smoking and tobacco smoking.
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vonk
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quote:
Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:
"I can understand why someone might put something in their mouth. What I can't understand is what would possess them to set it on fire."

"Three of the four elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it on back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It's not the tobacco we're after, but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lightning.
Does that mean that chain smokers are religious fanatics? You must admit there's a similarity.
The lung of the smoker is a naked virgin thrown as a sacrifice into the godfire."


~Tom Robbins [/QB]

Dam you! I just spent thirty minutes flipping through Still Life to find this quote, only to scroll down and see it already posted.
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Orincoro
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Tom Robbins.... is a blowhard. Hard.
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Elmer's Glue
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Haha, true dat Orincoro, true dat.
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Itsame
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quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
It should be noted that it is very common for Cannabis smokers to share 1 joint between half a dozen people at a party once a week or so.

I'm sure their are exceptions where people smoke alot more marijuana, but its certainly a lot less common to smoke pot daily than to smoke cigarettes daily. That's true even in countries like the Netherlands where pot is legal.

My brother smokes 3-5 times a day.
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AvidReader
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I just found out that I have a friend I've never seen straight. He just stays high all the time.
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Lisa
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quote:
Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:
"I can understand why someone might put something in their mouth. What I can't understand is what would possess them to set it on fire."

"Three of the four elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immediate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it on back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It's not the tobacco we're after, but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lightning.
Does that mean that chain smokers are religious fanatics? You must admit there's a similarity.
The lung of the smoker is a naked virgin thrown as a sacrifice into the godfire."

~Tom Robbins [/QB]

He totally ripped that off from Ayn Rand, though. She has someone in Atlas Shrugged say almost the same thing.
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sylvrdragon
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quote:
Originally posted by PSI Teleport:
"I don't know what pot smells like."

I do. It was a pretty sad day when I realized that all those lame pot heads in school had the same distinctive aroma as my dad. *chortle*

QFT... The worst (or maybe best?) part is that it wasn't till I was 16 that this realization hit me.
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orlox
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more good news:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13278-smoking-pot-rots-your-gums.html

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Samprimary
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quote:
He totally ripped that off from Ayn Rand, though. She has someone in Atlas Shrugged say almost the same thing.
lolz @ post. Show me this quote it's ripped off of.

[ February 07, 2008, 05:10 AM: Message edited by: Samprimary ]

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