Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers
A recent study concluded that smoking marijuana, or pot, once or twice a week does not hurt the lungs. This study was the largest most conclusive study ever conducted on marijuana.
The study lasted 20 years and was federally funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study followed 5,115 men and women aged 18 through 30 in four major cities. The cities included: Chicago, Oakland, Calif., Brimingham, and Minneapolis. Approximately equal numbers of blacks and whites were featured in the study, but no other minorities were included.
Study participants were asked about recent marijuana and/or cigarette use and had several lung function tests during the study.
Of those who participated, 37 percent reported occasional marijuana use, most of which also reported having smoked cigarettes, and 17 percent said they would smoke cigarettes but not marijuana. These results are similar to national estimates.
The study found that on average, cigarette users smoked about 9 cigarettes daily, while marijuana users only smoked a joint a few times a month.
The study took into account outside factors such as pollution.
The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings found that while marijuana contains some of the same toxins as tobacco, it does not carry the same risks for lung cancer as tobacco.
Why this is so, is still unclear. One theory is the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, causes the difference. Essentially, THC is the drug that causes the user to feel “high”. It helps fight inflammation and can counteract the effects of more irritating chemicals in marijuana, according to Dr. Donald Tashkin, a marijuana researcher and an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Another theory proposed by Dr. Stefan Ketsez, co-author of the study, is that unlike cigarette smokers, marijuana users tend to breathe in deeply which strengthens lung tissue. The tests required the same type of deep breathing.
Overall, the authors calculated the effects of tobacco and marijuana separately. They separated them into categories of people who use one or the other or both. The analyses showed pot didn’t appear to harm lung function, but cigarettes did. Cigarette smokers’ scores declined, whereas the scores of people who smoke marijuana as often as daily, did not decline.
As for now, marijuana remains illegal in most states, with exceptions in some states for medical purposes. This study is the first major undertaking into marijuana research so more developments may come in the future.
By: Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyer Mario Pacella
