Lung damage marijuana vs. cigarettes??

Question

Lets say a pack a day of cigarettes v.s 2-3 joints...What are your thoughts/Yq expert opinions??

Answer 1

The first thing you know is that most people don't have a clue about these subjects except what they read in the newspaper and they don't remember that very well.

Don't accept answers from anyone who can't give you references, and laugh out loud if anyone cites antidrug.com as a source. The US Government has had an openly stated campaign of lying about marijuana since at least the 1930s. You can find an entertaining history of the subject at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm

You can find a ton of research on the health effects of marijuana at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer

If deaths produced from lung damage is the measure then tobacco wins hands down, and it isn't even close. You can find a chart of how many people are killed by drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/basicfax3.htm

Both plants produce largely the same kind of smoke and can produce the same kinds of damage, with a few exceptions.

Tobacco has nicotine which is a potent poison and highly addictive. It also may contain radioactive elements from the fertilizers that are used on the plant. It is believed by some that the radioactive elements in the fertilizer may be one reason tobacco has a high association with lung cancer.

Marijuana contains THC which has anti-tumor properties. The most recent research by Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA (the leading expert on the subject) found that marijuana smokers actually have a LOWER incidence of lung cancer than average. This may be due to the anti-tumor properties of marijuana. You can find newspaper articles talking about this research by searching http://www.mapinc.org

As for the fertilizers used on marijuana, those will vary according to who is growing it but I have met a large number of growers and every one of them expressed great care about choosing the correct (and safe) fertilizers for their product. They put quite a bit of work into each plant so they tend to watch these things very carefully. (This would not apply to ordinary Mexican weed.)

Tobacco also causes emphysema, while marijuana does not.

You will see people allege that marijuana has ten times (or 50 times, as they can't remember their own urban legends) as much tar as tobacco. It is something of a mystery how equal measures of two roughly equivalent plants can produce such hugely different measures of tar, but that is really beside the point. The real point is the measurable overall effects.

One the overall effects, tobacco wins for the major problems -- lung cancer and emphysema. It is not even a contest.

One of the explanations for the differences is the THC vs. nicotine. Another explanation is the fertilizers used. Another explanation is that pot smokers generally don't consume as much as tobacco smokers do. (Although this would not be true in places like Jamaica where some people smoke 28 times as much as the typical US pot smoker. Even at those levels, pot does not come close to the damage done by tobacco.)

One other thing to consider is that it is entirely possible to avoid all the lung damage associated with using marijuana. Marijuana can be eaten or vaporized. Vaporization heats the marijuana to the point (less than 200 degrees) where the active ingredients come off as a gas. There is no smoke and, therefore, none of the tars. If you tried the same thing with tobacco, you would be one sick puppy in short order, possibly dead.

You can find a ton of health references on the effects of marijuana at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer The largest study to date of the health effects of marijuana was done by Kaiser Permanente. They surveyed 65,000 patients over a long period of time and found no significant differences in the health records of pot smokers versus non-pot-smokers. On the other hand, there is a quite clear difference in the health records of tobacco smokers. The full text of the study is online at http://druglibrary.org/crl

Answer 2

From the information I've seen, 2-3 joints is considerably worse for your lungs than a pack a day, probably being closer to a pack and a half. But from experience, I don't believe marijuana is nearly as bad for your lungs as the experts would suggest. I played 3 sports throughout high school while smoking a lot more than 2-3 joints a day without any real problem. Currently I smoke about a pack a day and don't smoke marijuana, and I struggle to run a mile a day, which is much less than the workload I had in high school sports only 2 years ago.

Answer 3

The lung damage comes primarily from the solids in the smoke you inhale and how long they have to settle out in your lungs and secondarily from gasses. Also, there are other factors like what temperature the plant material burned at (and so what solids result as well as some gasses) and just what is in the plant material to start with.

But mostly, it is all swamped simply by the sheer weight of tobacco smoked vs. the weight of the marijuana. Neither has any noticeablely worse composition to start with so 20-40 cigarettes a day, although filtered (which loses effectiveness the longer (i.e.: the farther down you smoke) you smoke), simply race long past what even the most dedicated Grateful Dead fan can afford when it comes to amount of damage caused.

Lastly, in this world damage doesn't usually mount up linearly (as in 40 cigs a day being 2x as bad for you as 20 cigs a day). Usually damage is amplified if done quickly enough that your body cannot repair fully between damaging events. So 40 cigs a day might be 13x worse than 20 instead of just 2x. Interestingly, it then becomes sort of important to your question just when in the day you smoke the joints. Do it at the end of the smoking day and each joint cause more damage than the first cig of the day. Just to be technical about it. Of course, if you wind down with the pot and don't feel an urge to smoke 8 more cigs that evening, then it saved you damage by smoking the pot. So would have going to bed earlier though, and without adding back in the damage from the joints. Lifestyle choices are tough, eh? Make life complicated.

But unless you REALLY need relaxed and have a LOT of extra money, that 2-3 joints a day sounds like a high estimate (sorry, I had to write that) for the day vs. the 20 cigs in a day which is probably low for most smoker so you can likely rest easy about the marijuana being a noticeable issue.

Added:

Oh Lordy!!! Get real folks. Unless you grew it yourself, you know absolutely nothing but what some piece of garbage passed on about the pot when trying to get a little more cash out of your pocket for it. Both contain all the same poisons and obnoxious agents. As for additives, if pot cost about 50 times less, you'd put them into it in a second and you could burn half of it off while not near your mouth like cig smokers do. At least the tobacco poisons were grown and handled with an eye toward preventing stupid contaminations that would result in lawsuits! Who ever sued a drug dealer and won anything other than a bullet? Organically grown pot is pot the dealer thinks you'll pay more for if he tells you (lies to you) it is organically grown. It got the same fertilizers and pesticides the rest of the corn field got.

Answer 4

Cigarettes are certainly worse. Tobacco typically has more additives and poisons. With pot, it depends on what you're smoking. If you get pot from a good place, it's grown orgaincally, it's not too bad for you. Especially, if the pot is VERY STRONG. I don't care who you are, if you're smoking some of that ****, you can't smoke 2 or 3 joints a day -- a few hits will do ya. You just can't compare the amount of smoke you're pulling into your lungs by smoking a few hits of weed compared to a pack a day of cigarettes!

Answer 5

If you're going to cause lung damage, you might as well get a high out of it. I'd go with the 2-3 joints. Screw cigarettes, they never did anything for me. Haha. Cigarettes cause less damage though, I'd imagine.

Answer 6

the doctor said only one joint a day for that arthiritis. as far as lung damage...any foreign substance goin into your lungs will produce some sort of damage. a pack of cigarettes is only a little more hazardous than smoking three joints from what medical journals say. both will leave residue in your lungs. atleast you can battle cancer, arthiritis, ibs, and the lemons life throws at you with marjuana...cigarettes make you annoying to be around, smelly, and ugly.

Answer 7

neither choice is good for your lungs, marijuana carries many of the same toxins as cigarettes, and it is unfiltered to boot. Not only that, marijuana, unlike cigarettes, is a known depressant and will worsen symptoms of clinical depression.

Answer 8

Studies show that marijuana smoke is about ten times more harmful than cigarette smoke. Not only are the chemicals more harsh, the smoke is unfiltered. Most people underestimate the dangers of marijuana smoke. Of course, people that actually smoke marijuana are going to disagree. The research is out there. Look it up.

Answer 9

Weed causes less damage to the lungs it is a proven fact. The fiber glass in the filters of cigerttes is what does majority of the lung damage

Answer 10

For every joint you smoke it is equal to smoking 10 cigarettes. You do the math and figure out which is worse.