'More tar' in cannabis than cigarettes

Herald Sun ^ | 27 March 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

SMOKING three cannabis joints will cause you to inhale the same amount of toxic chemicals as a whole packet of cigarettes, according to research published in France today.

Cannabis smoke contains seven times more tar and carbon monoxide, the French National Consumers' Institute concluded in research published in the April edition of its monthly magazine.

The institute tested regular Marlboro cigarettes alongside 280 specially rolled joints of cannabis leaves and resin in an artificial smoking machine.

The tests examined the content of the smoke for tar and carbon monoxide, as well as for the toxic chemicals nicotine, benzene and toluene.

"Cannabis smoke contains seven times more tar and carbon monoxide than tobacco smoke," the institute's magazine says.

Someone smoking a joint of cannabis resin rolled with tobacco will inhale twice the amount of benzene and three times as much toluene as if they were smoking a regular cigarette, the study says.

Smokers of pure cannabis leaves will also inhale more of these chemicals than from a normal cigarette, though the amount varies depending on the quantities.

"Smoking three joints every day – which is becoming frequent – makes you run the same risks of cancer or cardio-vascular diseases as smoking a packet of cigarettes," the magazine says.

Cannabis is "by far" the most popular illicit drug in France, it says. The number of cigarette smokers and people drinking alcohol fell in 2005, while the number of cannabis users has increased in France in the past five years.

[stands2reason]

Not enough information in this survey. One joint can be potent enough for 1-6 people depending on the size and potency. Way too much wiggle room for an accurate result.

[Lurker]

specially rolled joints of cannabis leaves and resin

Pot smokers don't add resin to joints. This study was flawed from the get go.

L

[stands2reason]

Where do you get that idea?

[stands2reason]

BS.

[KarinG1]

Smoking three cannabis joints will cause you to inhale the same amount of toxic chemicals as a whole packet of cigarettes

But it'll get you way higher.

[stands2reason]

They obviously tried to get the highest (ha) results as possible. I can only wonder how big those joints they tested were. Cheech and Chong size, probably.

[Mojave]

SMOKING three cannabis joints will cause you to inhale the same amount of toxic chemicals as a whole packet of cigarettes, according to research published in France today.

Oh, but dope toxins are good for you. Just ask FR's resident dope fan club.

[CrawDaddyCA]

I've been asking the same question for years...and have yet to receive a straight answer.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

And pot smokers probably absorb far more of the harmful chemicals, too. I've never seen a cigarette smoker hold the smoke in his lungs until his face turned red.

[Lurker]

Who do you think you are just barging in here and making sense! That kind of thing isn't tolerated around here.

L

[robertpaulsen]

"Researchers seem to have lost interest in one once-promising use of marijuana - to treat glaucoma. They discovered early on that marijuana reduced the intraocular pressure resulting from this potentially blinding disease. However, the treatment never caught on with more than a handful of patients; to keep pressure down, marijuana must be taken every two to four hours, and patients didn’t like being high continuously. Also, many new drugs work well, with minimal side effects."
-- Marijuana as medicine - How strong is the science?, Consumer Reports, May, 1997

"...it’s well known that smoking marijuana can reduce pressure within the eye, a hallmark of the disease. But the drug may also reduce the blood supply to the optic nerve - the last thing a glaucoma sufferer needs - and it doesn’t seem to prevent blindness. Even if marijuana could save eyes, smoking it enough would take extraordinary effort. ‘In order to substantially reduce eye pressure,’ says Dr. Harry Quigley of John Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute, ‘you’d have to be stoned all the time.’"
-- Can Marijuana be Medicine?, Newsweek, February 3, 1997)

[stands2reason]

Strawmen are good for you too.

[winston2]

Or use a bong....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

....filled with crushed ice.

[randog]

No one has ever proved that anyone has ever dies from using cannabis in the history of the world.

No one has ever died from a black widow spider bite, either. Plenty of people, however, have died from complications caused by a black widow spider bite.

[robertpaulsen]

"If I want to come home from a long day's work & get drunk, high, eat candy - or just lay on the couch & watch TV - who's business is it to anyone else?"

Well, alicewonders, it turns out that people don't do that. They're out and about doing drugs, and 1.5 million of them are arrested every year.

[Mojave]

I've never seen a cigarette smoker hold the smoke in his lungs until his face turned red.

The marijuana spontaneously cures any side effects form the toxins.

[alicewonders]

For now, let's just forget about pot as medicine - I prefer it's use for recreation & relaxation. Why should that be a problem?

[Mojave]

And nobody ever dies from speeding. You see, the sudden stops are a different matter.

[Supernatural]

"The marijuana spontaneously cures any side effects form the toxins".

Either you can't spell or you don't know how to use the spellcheck feature.

[alicewonders]

Ah yes, there will always be those that get out of line & mess it up for the rest of us. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with those people & leave the other non-troublemakers alone?