Does smoking marijuana cause lung cancer?

Answer 1

I've it's never been reported , but cigareete smoke does.It's not the smoking it's the chemicals, that cause it (nicotine)

Answer 2

The studies that proved that smoking causes lung cancer were very extensive and included several years of reliable data on habituated, regular smokers.

There are no such studies (of the same extent) available on marijuana, since data is unreliable, due to the fact that it is an illegal drug in most countries.

However, lacking a true study, there are some facts to be aware of:
- In cigarettes, it is not the chemical nicotine which is carcinogenic, but smoke components such as tar, benzene, small particle dust, and others. Nicotine is a stimulant and is what makes you addicted. The smoke components are present in any smoke, including marijuana smoke.

- Marijuana contains a powerful antioxidant called cannabinol (different from tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, which is a narcotic). This antioxidant is very well absorbed by the lungs and would theoretically protect against cancer.

Those two facts are contradictory in relation to lung cancer. However, it is thought that marijuana is not physiologically addictive, at least not at the same level as tobacco. But this must be carefully assessed considering the recent findings about addiction. Some marijuana smokers are effectively regular, addicted smokers. Apart from lung cancers, this causes them serious harm to the nervous system (loss of short term memory).

THC is a dangerous narcotic because large, regular doses of it will not be metabolized, but instead stored in adipous tissue (fat). It tends to be released in the blood when blood sugar level goes down. So you basically risk a marijuana flashback anytime you miss a meal if you are a heavy user.

Also, one must remember that the marijuana that is available now has been especially selected for its content in THC (the narcotic), not for cannabinol. Average THC contents in the 60-70's were around 1% mass, whereas they are now around 30%. This forces marijuana users to dilute the product with tobacco, and probably causes addiction to nicotine.

Answer 3

Any insult to the lung ( and smoke is regarded as an insult, no matter what kind it is -- tobacco, marijuana, or the stuff in the air at Ground Zero) are capable of causing cell changes that result in a cancer.

Answer 4

Nope. A huge study was done at UCLA recently over several years that showed it did not cause lung cancer, and also killed cancerous cells, so it shows it protects against many cancers. Studies in Italy and Spain have shown the same.

Answer 5

No! But let me tell you something from someone that was around in the 70's. You won't have to worry about your Lungs. It goesstraight to your Brain Cells. You end up forgetting what to do. I know poeple, who lived on that stuff. Can't remember most things that their children were doing. And that's not things that anyone can forget. They don't remember Dates, Times, And Major Events. All because it kills that part of your Brain. it's your Life. But it is your memory, also.

Answer 6

Of course it does, anything foreign in the body does it harm. Believe me you don't want to have lung cancer, lost my brother to it, and if you want to suffer a painful death, and have your loved ones around you watch you have panic attacks because you can't catch your breathe or breath, then continue, but I hope anyone reading this thinks twice. It's an awful thing to watch!

Answer 7

smoking ANYTHING can cause lung cancer.
Sorry Tammy C. [above] ,Smoke causes lung cancer.

Answer 8

I've been told it does - most others will probably disagree . Try lung cancer in WebMD & look for links

Answer 9

The association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer: a systematic review.

* Mehra R,
* Moore BA,
* Crothers K,
* Tetrault J,
* Fiellin DA.

Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-6003, USA. [e-mail]

BACKGROUND: The association between marijuana smoking and lung cancer is unclear, and a systematic appraisal of this relationship has yet to be performed. Our objective was to assess the impact of marijuana smoking on the development of premalignant lung changes and lung cancer. METHODS: Studies assessing the impact of marijuana smoking on lung premalignant findings and lung cancer were selected from MEDLINE, PSYCHLIT, and EMBASE databases according to the following predefined criteria: English-language studies of persons 18 years or older identified from 1966 to the second week of October 2005 were included if they were research studies (ie, not letters, reviews, editorials, or limited case studies), involved persons who smoked marijuana, and examined premalignant or cancerous changes in the lung. RESULTS: Nineteen studies met selection criteria. Studies that examined lung cancer risk factors or premalignant changes in the lung found an association of marijuana smoking with increased tar exposure, alveolar macrophage tumoricidal dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, and bronchial mucosal histopathologic abnormalities compared with tobacco smokers or nonsmoking controls. Observational studies of subjects with marijuana exposure failed to demonstrate significant associations between marijuana smoking and lung cancer after adjusting for tobacco use. The primary methodologic deficiencies noted include selection bias, small sample size, limited generalizability, overall young participant age precluding sufficient lag time for lung cancer outcome identification, and lack of adjustment for tobacco smoking. CONCLUSION: Given the prevalence of marijuana smoking and studies predominantly supporting biological plausibility of an association of marijuana smoking with lung cancer on the basis of molecular, cellular, and histopathologic findings, physicians should advise patients regarding potential adverse health outcomes until further rigorous studies are performed that permit definitive conclusions.

PMID: 16832000 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers: results of a population-based case-control study.

* Hashibe M,
* Morgenstern H,
* Cui Y,
* Tashkin DP,
* Zhang ZF,
* Cozen W,
* Mack TM,
* Greenland S.

IARC, Lyon, France.

BACKGROUND: Despite several lines of evidence suggesting the biological plausibility of marijuana being carcinogenic, epidemiologic findings are inconsistent. We conducted a population-based case-control study of the association between marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers in Los Angeles. METHODS: Our study included 1,212 incident cancer cases and 1,040 cancer-free controls matched to cases on age, gender, and neighborhood. Subjects were interviewed with a standardized questionnaire. The cumulative use of marijuana was expressed in joint-years, where 1 joint-year is equivalent to smoking one joint per day for 1 year. RESULTS: Although using marijuana for > or =30 joint-years was positively associated in the crude analyses with each cancer type (except pharyngeal cancer), no positive associations were observed when adjusting for several confounders including cigarette smoking. The adjusted odds ratio estimate (and 95% confidence limits) for > or =60 versus 0 joint-years was 1.1 (0.56, 2.1) for oral cancer, 0.84 (0.28, 2.5) for laryngeal cancer, and 0.62 (0.32, 1.2) for lung cancer; the adjusted odds ratio estimate for > or =30 versus 0 joint-years was 0.57 (0.20, 1.6) for pharyngeal cancer, and 0.53 (0.22, 1.3) for esophageal cancer. No association was consistently monotonic across exposure categories, and restriction to subjects who never smoked cigarettes yielded similar findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our results may have been affected by selection bias or error in measuring lifetime exposure and confounder histories; but they suggest that the association of these cancers with marijuana, even long-term or heavy use, is not strong and may be below practically detectable limits.

Answer 10

Yes, don't smoke anything. it is gross