cannabisnews.com: There's a Reason They Call It Getting Wasted










  There's a Reason They Call It Getting Wasted

Posted by CN Staff on November 16, 2002 at 08:32:37 PT
By Alan Freeman 
Source: Globe and Mail  

Marijuana has always been seen as the laid-back drug. It might make you crave ice cream and chocolate cake or induce you to fall asleep, but it certainly wasn't dangerous.Yet, as governments in Britain and Canada consider decriminalizing the drug, medical researchers are warning that smoking cannabis increases the risk of lung disease and, more disturbingly, that its use can exacerbate psychosis and that it is linked with the onset of schizophrenia in adolescents.
"We have the evidence of cannabis and its dangers," said Dr. Richard Russell, a respiratory specialist and a spokesman for the British Lung Foundation, which published a report this week on the dangers of cannabis."What we really want to avoid is the situation we had in the 1930s, '40s and '50s with cigarettes, where doctors were recommending tobacco as being good for you."In its report, the lung foundation warns that cannabis is more harmful to the lungs than tobacco. It says smoking three joints a day can cause the same damage as 20 cigarettes, and tar from marijuana contains 50 per cent more carcinogens than that from tobacco.Persistent users are risking lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses, it says.One of the major problems is posed by the way users smoke marijuana and hashish: They take puffs that are almost twice as large as those tobacco smokers take and hold the smoke in four times as long. "This means that there is a greater respiratory burden of carbon monoxide and smoke particulates such as tar than when smoking a similar quantity of tobacco."The foundation also noted that in the 1960s, the average marijuana joint contained about 10 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which accounts for the drug's psychoactive properties. Because of sophisticated cultivation techniques, the average joint today has 150 mg of THC, a 15-fold increase.Dr. Russell, the respiratory specialist, worries that young people think cannabis is a "cool drug" that is risk-free. A survey carried out this year showed that 79 per cent of British children believe cannabis is safe.The Canadian government indicated in its Speech from the Throne last month that it is considering the decriminalization of marijuana possession.Already, it gives exemptions to drug laws to allow sick people to have marijuana. On the other hand, pot grown for medicinal purposes in an abandoned Manitoba mine with Ottawa's sanction sits in storage.In Britain, under a proposal due to become law next year, simple possession of a small amount of cannabis will no longer result in an automatic arrest although police will still be able to go after users in "aggravated" circumstances, such as smoking in the presence of children. Cannabis trafficking will also continue to bring a prison sentence.Meanwhile, clinical studies on the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes are under way with HIV patients in Canada and with people suffering from multiple sclerosis in Britain.The British Lung Foundation says it is not trying to get involved in the debate over whether cannabis should be legalized, leaving that to politicians. "Our report is not about the moral rights and wrongs of cannabis, but simply making sure everyone is completely clear about the respiratory health risks involved," said Dr. Mark Britton, chairman of the foundation.Dr. Russell says he recently saw a 40-year-old patient in his clinic with "severe end-stage emphysema" and has about 18 months to live. The patient has been smoking three joints a day for the past 25 years, the equivalent of smoking 60 cigarettes a day from the age of 15, he says.Studies of heavy cannabis smoking among Rastafarians in the Caribbean have also pointed to increased danger of early lung cancer, Dr. Russell says.Les Iversen, a professor of pharmacology at King's College in London and an expert on cannabis, agrees that smoking marijuana poses dangers, but he says the report's findings are exaggerated.There is no specific evidence linking cannabis smoking with lung cancer, Prof. Iversen says.He says it's absurd to say smoking three joints is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes because joints come in different sizes and strengths as do commercial cigarettes.Although he adds, "I don't think any drug is safe."Psychiatrists have also linked cannabis use to schizophrenia."People with schizophrenia do not take more alcohol, heroin or ecstasy than the rest of us, but they are twice as likely to smoke cannabis regularly," says Dr. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.Dr. Murray says cannabis, along with cocaine and amphetamines, encourage the release of dopamine in the brain, which in turn leads to increased hallucinations.He notes that the incidence of schizophrenia in south London has doubled in the past 40 years, and he says increased use of both cannabis and cocaine could be at fault.Dr. Murray cites a study that interviewed 50,000 conscripts to the Swedish Army about their drug use and followed up later. Heavy users of cannabis at the age of 18 were six times as likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia by the time they were 33 than those who kept away from the drug.Another study, this one in the Netherlands, interviewed 7,500 people about their consumption of drugs and looked at their behaviour over the next three years. Regular users of cannabis were more likely to develop psychosis than those who did not use the drug."Any public debate on cannabis needs to take account of the risks as well as the pleasure," Dr. Murray says. "Pro-marijuana campaigners claim, extrapolating from their Saturday-night joint, that cannabis is totally safe. Yet they would be unlikely to claim that a bottle of vodka a day is healthy on the basis of sharing a bottle of Chablis over dinner."No drugs that alter brain chemistry are totally safe," he says. "Just as some who drink heavily become alcoholic, so a minority of those who smoke cannabis daily go psychotic."A major study on the links between cannabis and schizophrenia is due to be published in the British Medical Journal next week by Louise Arsenault, a biomedical researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry who was trained at the University of Montreal.Research made public last year by Dr. Arsenault showed that young men who regularly smoke cannabis are five times more likely to be violent than those who avoid the drug. Using data from a study of 961 young adults in Dunedin, New Zealand, she discovered that one-third of those with a cannabis habit had a court conviction for violence by the time they hit 21 or had displayed violent behaviour. That was three times the level of those who drank excessive amounts of alcohol.The warnings about marijuana have not deterred members of Britain's Legalize Cannabis Alliance, who say the report is merely a selective study of existing medical literature, which ignores studies that discount the health threats posed by the drug."I've used it for 30 years and it doesn't seem to have affected my health," says Alun Buffry, the alliance's national co-ordinator."I stopped tobacco three or four years ago and I have noticed that since then my health has improved. My general level of energy has improved and I get more of a high from cannabis than the sleepiness I used to get, which I think had to do with tobacco."Mr. Buffry argues that it would be best to legalize cannabis to control the quality of what is sold and eliminate "dirty supplies" that may include potentially harmful glues, fillers and colouring agents."I would argue that it would be far more dangerous illegal than it would be legalized," he says. "Even if cannabis were the most dangerous substance in the world, it is still consumed by millions of people."Note: Researchers warn marijuana is worse than tobacco for your lungs and is linked to schizophrenia. Alan Freeman is The Globe and Mail's European correspondent.Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Alan FreemanPublished: Saturday, November 16, 2002 – Print Edition, Page F7Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.ca/Related Articles & Web Site:Legalise Cannabis Alliance http://www.lca-uk.org/Smoke Wisdom - Guardian Unlimited http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14725.shtmlCancer from Cannabis? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14724.shtmlCancer Warning Put on Smoking Joints http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14720.shtml 

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Comment #10 posted by VitaminT on November 17, 2002 at 09:23:03 PT
mayan
Perhaps the Greeks don't smoke American Cigarettes laced with radioactive isotopes as Americans do.http://www.cannabisculture.com/news/tobacco/http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2491.html
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Comment #9 posted by Naaps on November 17, 2002 at 08:47:11 PT
Speculating on the Harm
When the British Lung Foundation report was issued I was confused. An international report done a couple years ago found cannabis more benign to alcohol and tobacco in regard to addiction rates, lethal dose, and health deterioration. Also, at the Richmond Senate hearing, one of the Senators explained that the best science had found that cannabis and tobacco are approximately equal in deleterious effects on an equal weight basis. The average tobacco smoker burns 15 to 20 times as much vegetative matter. Hence, the far greater tobacco smoke induced health problems.   
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Comment #8 posted by afterburner on November 16, 2002 at 18:07:42 PT:
The Existence of Schizophrenia Is Contentious. 
The so-called connection between cannabis use and schizophrenia is dubious since the very term schizophrenia is disputed by several leading psychiatrists. The following letter to the editor from the Toronto Star, Fri., Nov. 15, 2002 provides further details. 
LTE: Study won't help schizophrenicsRe: UT scientists on track of gene for schizophrenia - Nov.13.The article touting the discovery of a "risk gene for schizophrenia" lacks scientific credibility; it's more evidence of the star's uncritical support of biological psychiatry.Although I haven't read this particular study by Seeman et al, all previous studies dating back to the 1980s or earlier alleging a genetic basis or "genetic predisposition" to schizophrenia have never been replicated or scientifically supported. I predict the Seeman/U of T study will suffer the same fate.There are no genetic factors in schizophrenia or any other mental illness. Why? Because schizophrenia and mental illness do not exist as diseases, they're metaphors for serious personal or "psychospiritual" crises--Dr. Peter Breggin's apt term.Like hundreds of thousands of other people, I was once falsely diagnosed "schizophrenic" while going through an existential crisis, and tortured with more that 100 subcoma insulin shock treatments.For damning critiques of mental illness, schizophrenia and psychiatric research, read psychiatrist Thomas Szasz's classic works, The Myth of Mental Illness and Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry, John Modrow's brilliant 1992 book, How to Become A Schizophrenic: The Case Against Biological Psychiatry, and Dr. Peter Breggin's 1991 classic, Toxic Psychiatry.To paraphrase Professor Szasz, schizophrenia is another scientific hoax and "medical scandal." Psychiatric patients labelled schizophrenic will get no help from this study and similar ones. The ones benefiting from this "genetic research" are the biological psychiatrists, U of T and the multinational drug companies that make millions of dollars pushing their newest, brain-damaging drugs as "safe and effective antipsychotic medication."A gene for schizophrenia? Ask geneticists like David Suzuki.Don Weltz, Toronto.ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #7 posted by mayan on November 16, 2002 at 16:34:04 PT
Coincidence?
I just read that Greece has the highest percentage(per capita)of cigarette smokers in the world. They also have one of the lowest lung cancer rates in the world. Is it just coincidence that they also have one of the highest percentages(per capita)of marijuana smokers in the world? How can this be explained?
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Comment #6 posted by knox42897 on November 16, 2002 at 14:10:56 PT:
schizophrenia and bi-polar
I personally suffer from schizophrenia and bi-polar. I was told to take 15mg of zyprexia and lithium for the rest of my life. With the use of my medical marjuana, I am normal person. I have been using marijuana regularly and have not needed any other medication. However, I am a little paranoid the police is going to steal my medication. 
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Comment #5 posted by charmed quark on November 16, 2002 at 12:56:36 PT
Increased THC = less smoke
So in the very same article, they say marijuana is harmful due to the smoke and then they say it is more harmeful than in the 60's due to a higher THC content. Very confusing.
If it really has a higher THC level, I would think people would smoke less. You can't have it both ways, although these people seem to think they can.-Pete
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on November 16, 2002 at 10:46:01 PT:
Get the Real Facts, not Speculation.
These so-called reports fall under the classification of "kick 'em when they're down." Because of the fairly disastrous mid-term elections in the U.S. and the ominous Republican gains, the prohibitionists now think they have us on the run. Therefore, they trot out every lie and scientific misrepresentation they can find to add fuel to the fires of the renewed drug war. Consider the source, and get the real facts, not speculation. Keep the movement together and focused on the goal of medical freedom for cannabis. No fear. Think first. ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question. Fear or Joy. p.s. How can any of these field studies, which mix unregulated cannabis with untold other drugs and contaminants, be trusted. The U.S. government and many others don't trust uncontrolled field studies to prove the efficacy of medical cannabis. Why should they or we trust uncontrolled field studies that may indicate dangers? Show me the research!!!btw, which came first the violence or the cannabis? This may to another case of self-medication: violent feelings eased by marijuana.
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Comment #3 posted by st1r_dude on November 16, 2002 at 10:33:35 PT
two words -
vaporize or eat cannabis -i want to see the sciences do research on these methods of cannabis consumption.i would love to personally thank the people responsible for developing the vaporization techniques...wow.that's all i ever do now - what a difference.st1d responsibly - 
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Comment #1 posted by PonziScheme on November 16, 2002 at 09:25:18 PT

BLF Report Just Hot Air
NORML Head Dismisses British Lung Report As Nothing But Hot AirNovember 14, 2002 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: A questionable report released this week by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) alleging that marijuana smoke is potentially more hazardous than tobacco smoke must not overshadow years of clinical data indicating that marijuana smokers have no higher rates of lung cancer than non-users, according to NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup."The bottom line is that there exists no epidemiological or aggregate clinical data showing higher rates of lung cancer in people who smoke marijuana," Stroup said. He cited conclusions from a May 2000 John Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD) study that found no association between marijuana use and head, neck, or lung cancer in young adults. That study, which featured 164 participants, is the largest case-controlled study addressing marijuana use and cancer to date.Stroup noted that the BLF literature review did not cite the John Hopkins study, nor did it cite a 1997 study by Kaiser Permanente that observed no increase in deaths over a ten-year period among 14,000+ marijuana smokers when compared to non-smokers.Stroup did agree that marijuana smoke arguably carries some health risks. "Like tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke contains a number of irritants and carcinogens. However, most marijuana-only smokers likely do not inhale enough smoke to cause serious lung damage. In addition, many of these carcinogens may be reduced or eliminated by the use of marijuana vaporizers and other alternative smoking devices currently banned by the U.S. government."Stroup also noted that the chief psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC, is not carcinogenic and may actually offer protection against the development of some malignancies. A 1996 U.S. toxicology study found that rats administered THC over long periods of time failed to develop cancer and had fewer tumors than rats not given the agent. A follow up study by a Spanish research team in 2000 found that injections of synthetic THC eradicated malignant brain tumors - so-called gliomas - in one-third of treated rats, and prolonged life in another third by as much as six weeks.Lastly, Stroup argued that nothing in the BLF report justifies arresting and jailing responsible adult marijuana smokers. "Any risk presented by marijuana smoking falls within the ambit of choice we permit the individual in a free society," he said. "We do not suggest that marijuana is totally harmless or that it cannot be abused. That is true for all drugs, including those that are legal. Clearly, however, marijuana's relative risk to the user and society in no way justifies criminal prohibition or the continued arrest of more than 700,000 Americans on marijuana charges every year."For more information, please contact Keith Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-5500.
http://www.norml.org
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