[NewestInsight]

I was reading that there are some cases where doctors actually give marijuana to a patient as a medicine.S o does that mean it is safe to use or not
?

[tickle]

You are misinformed in one way. Marijuana is used as pain relief and in Ontario can be prescribed for this. Anything you smoke and ingest into the lungs can cause lung cancer.

[excon]

Hello New:

Nicotine causes lung cancer. Marijuana has no nicotine, and therefore, doesn't cause cancer.

As a matter of fact, marijuana has never killed anybody... Seeing as how tobacco, a LEGAL drug, kills somewhere around 350,000 people every year here in the United States, and alcohol, another LEGAL drug, kills another 150,000 people, I'd say marijuana is safe - at least in THOSE terms..

However, the cops'll lock you up if you smoke pot, and THAT makes it pretty damn dangerous.

excon

[Jake2008]

There are many substances that cause lung cancer in marijuana. It may not have nicotine, but it does have carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, acetone, benzene, toluene, vinyl chloride, dimethylnitrosamine, methylethylnitrosamine, benz(a)anthracene, benz(a)pyrene, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and many more.

(Huber, GaryPharm.Biochem.Behavior Vol.40. P.630, 1991.)

There is a health risk with smoking weed, or smoking anything as tickle said.

Medical marijuana, available now through more choices than the plant in FlinFlon which produced inferior garbage, is highly effective for many who suffer from arthritis, cancer treatments (anti-nausia), etc.

North America falls behind many other countries in clinical trials, and those trials have found it to be relatively harmless compared to, as you said excon, alcohol. Not to mention its been used mainly for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.

I have never heard of anybody dying from a marijuana overdose, but am familiar with many dying of alcohol overdose.

[Clough]

Hi, NewestInsight!

Yes, the legal uses concerning marijuana use for medicinal purposes have been proven and also stood up to the scrutiny of courts and other entities.

However, if something, anything, might be ingested into your lungs to a great extent, might not doing that give rise to the possibility that lung cancer might happen?

Thanks!

[excon]

There are many substances that cause lung cancer in marijuana. It may not have nicotine, but it does have carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, acetone, benzene, toluene, vinyl chloride, dimethylnitrosamine, methylethylnitrosamine, benz(a)anthracene, benz(a)pyrene, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and many more.

Hello again, Jake:

The RUMOR above has been circulating for years by the anti marijuana crowd. I don't dispute that those chemicals are IN marijuana. I simply suggest that if these things DID cause lung cancer, and people DIED from smoking pot, wouldn't you think the medical establishment would KNOW about it??

I do, and they don't!

Google "marijuana deaths" and see what you come up with.

excon

[excon]

North America falls behind many other countries in clinical trials

Hello again, Jake:

On Eve of Obama Presidency, DEA Blocks Privately-Funded, FDA-Approved Medical Marijuana Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 12, 2009

CONTACT: Dan Berger, ACLU, (917) 602-2445

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration struck a parting shot to legitimate science today as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) refused to end the unique government monopoly over the supply of marijuana available for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved research. DEA's final ruling rejected the formal recommendation of DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Mary Ellen Bittner, issued nearly two years ago following extensive legal hearings.

"With one foot out the door, the Bush administration has once again found time to undermine scientific freedom," said Allen Hopper, litigation director of the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project. "In stubbornly retaining the unique government monopoly over the supply of research marijuana over the objections of DEA's own administrative law judge, the Bush administration has effectively blocked the proper regulatory channels that would allow the drug to become a wholly legitimate prescription medication."

Judge Bittner's recommendation was based largely on the fact that marijuana is the only Schedule I drug that the DEA prohibits from being produced by private laboratories for scientific research, which has resulted in a unique government monopoly that fundamentally obstructs appropriate research and regulatory channels. Other controlled substances, including LSD, MDMA, heroin and cocaine, are available to researchers from DEA-licensed private laboratories.

In contrast, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) remains scientists' sole source of marijuana, despite the agency's repeated refusal to make marijuana available for privately-funded, FDA-approved studies that seek to develop smoked or vaporized marijuana into a legal, prescription medicine.

As Judge Bittner concluded, "NIDA's system for evaluating requests for marijuana has resulted in some researchers who hold DEA registrations and requisite approval from [HHS and FDA] being unable to conduct their research because NIDA has refused to provide them with marijuana. I therefore find that the existing supply is not adequate."

Professor Craker's proposed facility to grow high-quality medical marijuana for research purposes would be funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit pharmaceutical company with plans to develop marijuana into a fully legal, prescription medication.

"The DEA and NIDA, but not the FDA, are clearly frightened of permitting privately-funded, scientific research into the risks and benefits of the medical uses of marijuana," said Rick Doblin, President of MAPS. "We need the Obama Administration to reverse this egregious suppression of scientific research that the outgoing administration so fears will reveal inconvenient truths."

----------

Bush sucks!

excon

[J_9]

Actually Mary Jane might help FIGHT lung tumors and may combat lung cancer according to an article dated April 17, 2007 from WebMD

Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors

[Jake2008]

Hey excon,

You said, "Nicotine causes lung cancer. Marijuana has no nicotine, and therefore, doesn't cause cancer. "

I took that to mean that you couldn't get cancer from smoking weed because it didn't contain any nicotine.

I was merely pointing out that the other chemicals in it, some can cause cancer.

I have never seen a death notice that stated Joe Shmo died from cancer due to his pot smoking, nor have I ever seen a death notice that said, smoking cigarettes caused the cancer that killed Betty Boop.

I would think that if you were a casual smoker (of either) your chances would be far less of developing lung cancer, than someone who is a chronic, habitual smoker.

I am an advocate of legalizing marijuana by the way.

[Jake2008]

Actually Mary Jane might help FIGHT lung tumors and may combat lung cancer according to an article dated April 17, 2007 from WebMD

Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors

That does not at all surprise me. I hope that the funding money is available for research.

I do believe it has medicinal properties as that article has pointed out. Many have benefited from the THC.

It is just sad that people have to fight so hard to get it legally.

[lovelesspa]

Even John Hopkins Medical school did studies and said that Marijuana uses were less likely to get lung cancer and there was no direct link between it's use and lung cancer. But in my mind, when you smoke it, you inhale more then you would when you smoke a regular cig, and you hold your breath longer then a cig smoker, so it seems logical that this could increase the concentrations of deposits of the inhaled matter. If your inhaling a heated smoke into your lungs holding it in, it's irritating your lungs, even in a limited way, don't you think. I'm not saying it's going to cause lung cancer, but...