Cannabis smokers risk severe damage to lungs

[Dominus Atheos]

BBC

The holes in Samantha Wilson's lungs are getting bigger.

There is no cure for her illness and if it continues to get worse it will eventually kill her.

Samantha is 37 and has emphysema, a progressive condition normally associated with older people who have smoked tobacco regularly throughout their lives.

Samantha's doctor, Dr Onn Min Kon, a consultant physician of respiratory medicine at St Mary's Hospital in London, believes her cannabis smoking may be to blame for her condition.

Dr Kon said he had several other young patients who smoke cannabis and have lung diseases normally seen only in older tobacco smokers.

He said: "I've got a collection of young people who have lungs that look like they're 65-year-olds."

Such case studies have prompted Dr Kon to plan a study comparing the lungs of patients who smoke cannabis with those who smoke only tobacco.

If I don't stop smoking I won't be around much longer... there should be adverts showing people like me
Samantha Wilson

When Samantha, of Maida Vale, London, was diagnosed with emphysema at the age of 34 she had been smoking cannabis for 20 years.

She had begun by smoking two joints a day, but was eventually smoking up to 10 a day.

According to the latest figures from charity Action on Smoking and Health, the average tobacco smoker smokes between 13 and 14 cigarettes every day.

Samantha believes she is living proof of the effects cannabis can have on lungs.

She said: "If I don't stop smoking I won't be around much longer - there is no cure for emphysema, the holes in my lungs are getting bigger.

"There should be adverts showing people like me."

When smoked, cannabis produces many of the same chemicals as a tobacco cigarette, but may damage the airways to a greater extent.

In a 2002 report, the British Lung Foundation estimated that three to four cannabis cigarettes a day were associated with the same amount of damage to the lungs as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day.

So far though, it has been difficult to separate the effects of cannabis smoking from those of tobacco smoking in patients, as many users smoke both.

In his study, Dr Kon will use lung function tests and CT scan pictures to look for lung damage.

Such a study using CT scans has not been done before and Dr Kon said even people with apparently normal lung function could have problems, such as holes in their lungs, which would show up on these scans.

He said these people may have no symptoms but could still have respiratory diseases.


EMPHYSEMA
Emphysema is a normal feature of ageing
The alveoli, or small lung cells, become damaged
The condition develops progressively, causing "holes" in the lungs
The lungs lose their elasticity and breathing is difficult
Smoking accelerates the ageing process in lungs
In some people the damage becomes noticeable in their lifetime

Previously the link between emphysema and cannabis smoking has been difficult to prove, and the risks are often overlooked by people, who are generally concerned only about lung cancer.

Samantha said: "I'd never even heard of emphysema when I was diagnosed, and I don't think people know there is a risk of getting it."

The British Lung Foundation also called for more awareness of the issue.

A spokesperson said: "Research carried out by the British Lung Foundation found that smoking cannabis alone can cause severe lung damage.

"It is vital that people are fully aware of the dangers so they can make an educated choice and know the risks fully."

[Rye]

Who would've thought that breathing in burning foliage would damage someone's lungs?

[Alferd Packer]

Well yeah, I'm sure if I drank ten beers a day for 20 years starting at age 14, my liver would be all sorts of fucked up, too.

[mingo]

So do tobacco smokers, and they have far less fun doing it.

[Tribun]

So smoking Canabis will destroy your lungs?
Big surprise.

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

[Death from the Sea]

So smoking Canabis will destroy your lungs?
Big surprise.

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

because the people that are pro-marijuana keep spouting their BS about how it is less harmful than tobacco... kinda causes a brainbug of sorts that says marijuana causes no harm.

[Singular Intellect]

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

My guess (hope) is that it's so the rest of us can wash our hand of the stupidity by those who delibrately harm themselves. None of the "we weren't wanred" excuses.

Now if people could just get the balls to ensure those that make such stupid decisions pay the costs of those decisions rather than spreading it around on the rest of us.

[aerius]

When Samantha, of Maida Vale, London, was diagnosed with emphysema at the age of 34 she had been smoking cannabis for 20 years.

She had begun by smoking two joints a day, but was eventually smoking up to 10 a day.

Gee, when you chainsmoke up to 10 joints a day for 20 years it's going to fuck up your lungs, this should not come as a surprise. This is probably one of the heaviest pot users I've ever heard of, no wonder her lungs are fucked.

[wolveraptor]

So smoking Canabis will destroy your lungs?
Big surprise.

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

The part that's supposed to be surprise is that she has a disease commonly associated with much older tobacco users. Perhaps indicating that cannabis is more likely than tobacco to result in this disease.

Jesus, you're not cool for contributing nothing more than "lol tahts obvious" to the thread. Reading comprehension is a useful skill.

[Frank Hipper]

Ten fucking joints a fucking day?

No god damned fucking wonder she has fucking emphysema!

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

So smoking Canabis will destroy your lungs?
Big surprise.

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

because the people that are pro-marijuana keep spouting their BS about how it is less harmful than tobacco... kinda causes a brainbug of sorts that says marijuana causes no harm.

It is a brainbug, which is what brownies and vaporizers are meant to bypass. Legalizing cannabis, ironically, will allow for these methods to be used more in raw numbers and as a percentage of cannabis use due to lower market prices for bulk cannabis and manufacturers feeling more free to produce and market these alternative dosing methods and devices.

In short: Smoke inhalation is bad, no matter what the smoke issued from.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Ten fucking joints a fucking day?

No god damned fucking wonder she has fucking emphysema!

What!??! Worst binge I ever had was three blunts a day sustained over a measley two days, and that was years ago! Even then there was at least two or three other heads (my roomies) helping me smoke em!

How the flying fucking hell do you secure that steady a supply in this day and age anyway, especially for twenty years? I've found it impossible to avoid weeks-long droughts of absolutely nothing no matter where I was or what I tried.

[Pick]

I don't want to get this too off-topic, but ten blunts a day seems like it would be awfully expensive, wouldn't it? How much does, hypothetically, this stuff cost? Some of my friends who use it bitch about it being hard on the pocket, but they're much more infrequent users than this.

[General Zod]

So smoking Canabis will destroy your lungs?
Big surprise.

No really, why is it that things that are known for decades already are considered news nowadays? Reminder for people with a great short-term memory?

The part that's supposed to be surprise is that she has a disease commonly associated with much older tobacco users. Perhaps indicating that cannabis is more likely than tobacco to result in this disease.

Or the fact that she was smoking more cannabis on a daily basis than most potheads would ever touch by several magnitudes. . .

[Aaron]

I'll bet she had or knew someone with a grow-op. I don't know much about the pot economy but I know it's not cheap.

[aerius]

How the flying fucking hell do you secure that steady a supply in this day and age anyway, especially for twenty years? I've found it impossible to avoid weeks-long droughts of absolutely nothing no matter where I was or what I tried.

Grow your own, or have a good friend farm some dope for you. Or as my cop buddy likes to joke, become a cop and instead of tossing other people's weed down the sewers or taking it in as evidence, confiscate it for your own personal use.

[aerius]

I don't want to get this too off-topic, but ten blunts a day seems like it would be awfully expensive, wouldn't it? How much does, hypothetically, this stuff cost? Some of my friends who use it bitch about it being hard on the pocket, but they're much more infrequent users than this.

10 blunts would easily be a few hundred bucks a day, 10 joints I'd estimate to be around $40-100 or so depending on the size of the joint and quality of weed. I speak of course as a Customs officer whose job it is to keep the evil marijuana out of my beloved country.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I don't want to get this too off-topic, but ten blunts a day seems like it would be awfully expensive, wouldn't it? How much does, hypothetically, this stuff cost? Some of my friends who use it bitch about it being hard on the pocket, but they're much more infrequent users than this.

A blunt is generally rolled with the entire contents of a nickel bag, aka an Eighth, which is 3.5g. A joint is usually a quarter to a tenth the size. Blunts also use tobacco-based wraps instead of rolling papers.

And yeah, even ten joints a day would be Fucking Expensive to say nothing of blunts, which cost more and not only do way more damage but get you way higher.

[Eris]

In other breaking news, being a professional fire fighter also increases risk of lung disease.

I mean really, you're breathing in burning shit; why are we supposed to be surprised when you destroy your lungs? I can imagine that pound for pound in the current market cannabis may be more harmful than tobacco because it tends to be unfiltered. However, with a few notable exceptions you don't smoke nearly as much of it, and legalisation and regulation would flatten things out.

Bah, even thinking about the US drug legal system makes me bitchy. I want my OTC codeine again!

[Pick]

I don't want to get this too off-topic, but ten blunts a day seems like it would be awfully expensive, wouldn't it? How much does, hypothetically, this stuff cost? Some of my friends who use it bitch about it being hard on the pocket, but they're much more infrequent users than this.

10 blunts would easily be a few hundred bucks a day, 10 joints I'd estimate to be around $40-100 or so depending on the size of the joint and quality of weed. I speak of course as a Customs officer whose job it is to keep the evil marijuana out of my beloved country.

Oops, sorry, wrong word. I don't do pot so I don't know the terms .

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

In other breaking news, being a professional fire fighter also increases risk of lung disease.

At least a firefighter has a reasonable expectation of being provided masks (and in a great many cases positive-pressure oxygen) to minimize the smoke inhalation risk. Smokers do it on purpose!

I mean really, you're breathing in burning shit; why are we supposed to be surprised when you destroy your lungs? I can imagine that pound for pound in the current market cannabis may be more harmful than tobacco because it tends to be unfiltered. However, with a few notable exceptions you don't smoke nearly as much of it, and legalisation and regulation would flatten things out.

See my arguments for legalization and supply issues above. The only people I've ever known who tended to smoke more cannabis than tobacco are people who don't smoke tobacco, which is a very tiny percentage of smokers I've ever blazed with. I think I met precisely one other person who smoked cannabis who doesn't also smoke tobacco.

Three joints a day is considered heavy cannabis use, three PACKS of cigarettes a day is also considered merely heavy use.

Bah, even thinking about the US drug legal system makes me bitchy. I want my OTC codeine again!

Hear hear, just minus the codeine. I stay the fuck away from pills; my mom died from the damn things.

[aerius]

Oops, sorry, wrong word. I don't do pot so I don't know the terms .

Click my sig picture and be educated!

A blunt is what you see Bob Marley puffing on in his live concert footage, it's basically a cigar filled with a mix of weed and tobacco, though some people go hardcore and use 100% weed.

A joint is one of those small white things which most pot users smoke. It's a small sheet of rolling paper filled with a small amount of weed.

[Tribun]

It is stories like these that again prove my own philosophy concerning that stuff: Stay the hell away from that shit, 'cause it easily takes away decades of your lives.

I also guess that definitely proves all people saying that this stuff his harmless, wrong. Hell, I heared enough people, some politicans, telling us this shit. It also makes me wonder if they say this to make their own drug-useage easier? People call it a "starting-drug", but it obviously is even more destuctive than that. I don't even want to know in what condition these people from the 70's are, where it was hip to smoke away your brain with that stuff.

What the hell makes people to even smoke this shit?

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

It is stories like these that again prove my own philosophy concerning that stuff: Stay the hell away from that shit, 'cause it easily takes away decades of your lives.

Hey fucktard, have you been paying attention at all? I just pointed out how much more harmful tobacco is overall because of vastly heavier usage. Oh, and you completely ignored the existence of vaporizers and non-smoking delivery mechanisms for cannabis such as brownies, tea, or theoretically anything else you use butter to cook with

I also guess that definitely proves all people saying that this stuff his harmless, wrong.

That's the thing. We HAVEN'T been saying it's harmless when smoked, we're saying both tobacco and the insane Drug War is more harmful to users, especially when you EAT the cannabis instead of breathing in the burning-plant-matter smoke! And the poor lady in TFA was smoking pot at a rate considered variously unsustainable, excessive, or just insane by everyone in this thread.

Hell, I heard enough people, some politicans, telling us this shit. It also makes me wonder if they say this to make their own drug-useage easier?

Possibly. Politicians are cynical bastards, after all.

People call it a "starting-drug", but it obviously is even more destructive than that.

The Gateway Theory? The one that's been variously proven to be full of shit, applying as easily to tobacco and alcohol, and a consequence of marijuana's illegality?

I don't even want to know in what condition these people from the 70's are, where it was hip to smoke away your brain with that stuff.

I'll bet they don't have Alzheimer's disease. Not to mention it takes less to have the same effect nowadays than back then, so you smoke less (or eat fewer brownies).

What the hell makes people to even smoke this shit?

Because it's fun. Because it's usually too expensive to bake into brownies. Because vaporizers are considered drug paraphernalia that'll net you a felony instead of a mere misdemeanor. Because, in short, it is illegal yet people will never stop using it.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, asshole.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

A blunt is what you see Bob Marley puffing on in his live concert footage, it's basically a cigar filled with a mix of weed and tobacco, though some people go hardcore and use 100% weed.

'Some people'? I've never seen a blunt where any of the filler tobacco was kept. It was always all weed, all the time with blunts in my tribe.