pot is bad....this is true....

that article is almost 10 years old.

here's a more recent article-

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006; A03

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes marijuana is potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects appear to be of less concern than previously thought.

Earlier work established that marijuana does contain cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, he said. However, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous.

Tashkin's study, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, involved 1,200 people in Los Angeles who had lung, neck or head cancer and an additional 1,040 people without cancer matched by age, sex and neighborhood.

They were all asked about their lifetime use of marijuana, tobacco and alcohol. The heaviest marijuana smokers had lighted up more than 22,000 times, while moderately heavy usage was defined as smoking 11,000 to 22,000 marijuana cigarettes. Tashkin found that even the very heavy marijuana smokers showed no increased incidence of the three cancers studied.

"This is the largest case-control study ever done, and everyone had to fill out a very extensive questionnaire about marijuana use," he said. "Bias can creep into any research, but we controlled for as many confounding factors as we could, and so I believe these results have real meaning."

Tashkin's group at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA had hypothesized that marijuana would raise the risk of cancer on the basis of earlier small human studies, lab studies of animals, and the fact that marijuana users inhale more deeply and generally hold smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers -- exposing them to the dangerous chemicals for a longer time. In addition, Tashkin said, previous studies found that marijuana tar has 50 percent higher concentrations of chemicals linked to cancer than tobacco cigarette tar.

While no association between marijuana smoking and cancer was found, the study findings, presented to the American Thoracic Society International Conference this week, did find a 20-fold increase in lung cancer among people who smoked two or more packs of cigarettes a day.

The study was limited to people younger than 60 because those older than that were generally not exposed to marijuana in their youth, when it is most often tried.

either way drugs are bad and only losers smoke weed.

^_^

i'm pro-pot and pro-legalization (for medicinal and recreational purposes).

check this one out-

Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2007) — The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.

They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.

THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.

"The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer," said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.

Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.

In the present study, the researchers first demonstrated that two different lung cancer cell lines as well as patient lung tumor samples express CB1 and CB2, and that non-toxic doses of THC inhibited growth and spread in the cell lines. "When the cells are pretreated with THC, they have less EGFR stimulated invasion as measured by various in-vitro assays," Preet said.

Then, for three weeks, researchers injected standard doses of THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells, and found that tumors were reduced in size and weight by about 50 percent in treated animals compared to a control group. There was also about a 60 percent reduction in cancer lesions on the lungs in these mice as well as a significant reduction in protein markers associated with cancer progression, Preet says.

Although the researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth, they say the substance could be activating molecules that arrest the cell cycle. They speculate that THC may also interfere with angiogenesis and vascularization, which promotes cancer growth.

Preet says much work is needed to clarify the pathway by which THC functions, and cautions that some animal studies have shown that THC can stimulate some cancers. "THC offers some promise, but we have a long way to go before we know what its potential is," she said.

I agree with Sandy Pot is for losers....however, I don't know much about the medical aspect so maybe it is a good thing...with a prescription, mind you!!!!

yeah..

pure propaganda.. i dont believe in studies like that.

I'm strongly against it no matter what. I've seen what it does to people and I'll never support it no matter what studies are done.

propaganda? that article was from science daily. you don't believe in scientific studies?

edit: more importantly, why would harvard be putting out propaganda studies?

I see nothing wrong with pot. I don't smoke it mind you, but i used to, and have a few friends that do. i would much rather smoke a joint, and get a little buzz than get drunk. And i say this cause how many deaths are caused by pot, and how many are caused by drinking? I don't find pot to be a gate way drug either. Or leading you to do meth, heroin, coke ect. I smoked pot for almost 6 years...( before Chyanne, and sophia) Mostly my high school years. And i NEVER touched anything other than that. I did drink a bit. But i guess that's just my 2 cents.

i totally agree with you, holly. alcohol is the true gateway drug.

I have to agree with you. It's not something i'd advise to do on a regular basis though.

Estimated U.S. deaths in 2000 attributed to:

Tobacco (Average 1990 - 94): ................................. 430,700 (1)
Alcohol (1996): .......................................... ....... 110,640 (2)
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs (1982 / 1998): .. 32,000 (3)
Suicide (1998): .......................................... ........ 30,575 (4)
Homicide (1998): .......................................... ..... 18,272 (5)
All licit and illicit drug-induced deaths (1998): ............. 16,926 (6)
Non-Steroidal Anti- Inflammatory Drugs (1992):............ 7,600 (7)
Marijuana: .......................................... ............ 0 (8)

taken from- http://www.reconsider.org/issues/public_he alth/estimated_deaths_.htm

it sort of only stands to reason if cigarettes cause lung cancer why wouldn't pot?
I think people that think weed is ok, you have been smoking it way to long..

I use to smoke it years ago. not everyday. just for the fun of it now and then. But then I grew up!

I must be a loser then. . .If I could smoke pot legally, I would. Just because you have seen what it does to *some* people, doesn't mean everyone is like that. Smoking weed also doesn't mean someone is immature. I wake up early in the morning 5 days a week to come in to a managers job which I got for being responsible

did you read the articles i posted?

no actully I post just before it went up. . I see what it is saying..

But wouldn't it stand to reason that inhaling a matter into your lungs would at one point become harmful?

cigarettes have so much added to them, if it was straight tobacco it wouldnt be so bad

ive never smoked either pot or cigarettes, while i dont encourage it i dont find it a terrible thing

~alicia~

you are not a loser!!! fun things are hard to control.. I like wine.. I don't drink it everyday but I woudn't mind.. It doesn't make you a loser..

If you are like me you like the mellow feeling you get from it..

why not post this to the marijuana debate forum too?

you're not a loser, mel! smoking pot is the same as drinking (actually better in my opinion). the only reason it's taboo is because it's illegal.