WORLD / Health
One cannabis joint as bad as five cigarettes
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-01 10:25
LONDON - Smoking one cannabis joint is as harmful to a person's lungs as
having up to five cigarettes, according to research published on Tuesday.
An unidentified man smokes a cannabis cigarette at a house in London
before the relaxation of cannabis laws, in this file photo from January
24, 2004. [Reuters]
Those who smoked cannabis damaged both the lungs' small fine airways,
used for transporting oxygen, and the large airways, which blocked air
flow, the researchers said.
It meant cannabis smokers complained of wheezing, coughing, and chest
tightness, the study by experts at the Medical Research Institute of New
Zealand found.
The researchers tested 339 people - those who smoked only cannabis, those
who smoked tobacco, those who smoked both and non-smokers.
The study found only those who smoked tobacco suffered from the crippling
lung disease emphysema, but cannabis use stopped the lungs working
properly.
"The extent of this damage was directly related to the number of joints
smoked, with higher consumption linked to greater incapacity," said the
authors of the report published in the medical journal Thorax.
"The effect on the lungs of each joint was equivalent to smoking between
2.5 and five cigarettes in one go."
The British government is considering whether cannabis should be
reclassified as a more serious drug because of the dangers associated
with stronger strains.
"The danger cannabis poses to respiratory health is consistently being
overlooked," said Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung
Foundation.
"Smoking a joint is more harmful to the lungs than smoking a cigarette
and we have just banned people from doing that in public places because
of the health risks."
Last week British researchers said using marijuana increased the risk of
developing a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia.
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