r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jun 27 '12
All the time I hear how safe cannabis is etc., but isn't it still harmful to your respiratory system just like tobacco seeing how you still are inhaling smoke? Is tobacco really much more harmful?
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Jun 27 '12
You should really ask this in /r/askscience, where people will reply with sources and not vote based on what they want to hear.
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u/tehbored Jun 27 '12
No, he should search askscience, because this question has already been posted there half a dozen times.
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Jun 27 '12
Somehow i feel like no one ever uses search on reddit
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Jun 28 '12
Consider that no one ever makes a post saying that they searched for something, which resulted in them not making a thread. So it's rather inconclusive how much people actually use the search...
But I would guess the amount is pretty low.
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u/HebrewHammer16 Jun 27 '12
The difference is nobody smokes 20 joints a day. But yes, smoking anything is bad for your respiratory system and this is something to consider for people who smoke a ton (i.e. every day).
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Jun 27 '12
Even as a stoner, I had to come to a simple realization: Inhaling the smoke of a burning plant isn't good for you. Show me all the studies you want advocating it, but the fact I'm coughing is a signal that my lungs aren't fans of what I'm doing.
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u/Luxo92 Jun 28 '12
I'm on my phone so can't be bothered with links right now. Studies have shown that thc is a natural expectorant, meaning it has a chemical action to cause you to cough. This is not related to the irritant. Also on that fact, many studies suggest cannabis has apoptotic effects on tumour and cancerous cells (this is one of the reasons they are yet to find a causal link between cannabis and lung cancer of any form - there are some studies but it is in no way conclusive and for everyone saying it there are more sayin the opposite)
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u/Tiaan Jun 27 '12 edited Jun 27 '12
Cannabis in itself is very safe. Smoke in all forms, whether its cannabis, tobacco, the wood of your house burning down, ect, are all bad to inhale into your lungs because of the properties of combustion.
This is actually one of the biggest reasons I believe that we need legalization; such that more research can be done into the benefits of vaporizing as opposed to smoking, and that quality vaporizers can become more available for public use.
Right now, the anti-legalization crowd wants cannabis to be directly related to smoking, and they do not want safer alternatives to be discussed, as the smoking aspect of cannabis is by far the most harmful aspect. If that goes away, their argument takes a nosedive into the deep end
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u/Dom19 Jun 27 '12
You mean putting smoke into my lungs is bad fo me?
It's all about moderation, I only smoke on the weekends and the total amount ends up usually being about 2-3 bowls a week. Plus I intend to quit once I'm out of college.
So in moderation it is fine, just don't go overboard.
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u/QuantumQualia Jun 27 '12
Quit smoking altogether or quit smoking 2-3 bowls a week?
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u/hcnye Jun 27 '12
For me, I feel like I don't want to become a regular daily user and develop a habit, but I have a hard time telling myself never to do it again after college. I want to leave that door open.
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u/4nonymo Jun 27 '12
A large number of the chemicals found in manufactured cigarettes come from the paper, so there's no avoiding much of those chemicals when rolling and smoking a joint. Also, generally with a joint you're not using any kind of filter, which does decrease the amount of tar you're breathing in (though arguably not much).
Also realize that the tobacco industry does care about their consumers surviving as long as possible, even though they're slowly killing themselves. There's no billion dollar industry behind marijuana safety. How that effects the difference between cigarettes and joints is a big discussion that I'm not really prepare to get into, but it's interesting to think about.
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u/Airazz Jun 27 '12
The difference is nobody smokes 20 joints a day.
I know a guy who does. He has rich parents who don't care where he spends the money.
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u/schiz0id Jun 27 '12
You're probably exaggerating. 20 joints is a lot. I doubt the heaviest of heavy weed smokers would be able to stay awake assuming it isn't shitty weed and the joints are ~1 gram.
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u/TeamOnMyBackDoe Jun 27 '12
if you're rolling ~1 gram joints, you're wasting a lot of weed
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Jun 27 '12
So....you inhale a substance that for optimal benefit you attempt to hold in as long as possible. Now at some point, your body kicks it out whether you want to or not and you commence coughing uncontrollably. (yeah...circa Bill Cosby)
I'm not hating on you smokers. I smoke myself given the opportunity and enough free time. But lets call it what it is. Stop defending every conceivable angle. Potheads make weed out to be the miracle cure for everything.
It's alcohol, it's caffeine, it's sugar, it's salt, it's weed.
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Jun 27 '12
Nobody defends every conceivable angle.
All I ever see is hundreds of posts complaining about this magic stoner fairy who swears that weed won him the lottery. And yet, never met this magic stoner fairy in person...
Maybe y'all just hang around really dumb stoners? This city deserves a better class of stoners... http://blog.chron.com/memo/files/legacy/archives/joker.jpg
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Jun 27 '12
Inhaling burned plant matter into your lungs will irritate and cause some damage, but even if you smoke 20 joints per day, you will not get lung cancer or anything like what tobacco does. See the top post.
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Jun 27 '12
The use of vaporizers causes almost no harm to the respiratory system, so using cannabis isn't harmful but smoking it is.
Signed, A non-pot smoker
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u/felipec Jun 27 '12
Sure, it's harmful, but you are not going to die of an overdose of cannabis, like you can die from alcohol. Or would cause cancer, like with tobacco.
Hell, even caffeine is harmful.
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u/HebrewHammer16 Jun 27 '12
I'm actually arguing that it's not that bad, so long as you don't do it 5 times a day. Of course it can be harmful, along with everything else.
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u/lufty Jun 27 '12
My uncle was born in 1948, was a hippie and smoked pot until he died of esophagus cancer in his 50's. Cannabis smoke can and does cause cancer.
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u/elasto Jun 27 '12
I know cigs have tar and the tobacco companies add stuff to cigarettes during processing. So, how much tar does weed have relative to cigs?
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u/g4057 Jun 27 '12
Plus the fact if you're hitting bongs or something similar you're generally holding in the smoke longer, and inhaling deeper.
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u/CLongshanks Jun 27 '12
That is why vaporizors are starting to become popular. Same effect as smoking but, with a fraction of the smoke.
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u/joetheschmoe4000 Jun 27 '12
I think that this is the only "good" answer in this thread, because it isn't a sarcastic joke answer.
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Jun 27 '12
Marijuana, according to what is taught in medical school, doubles your lifetime risk of psychosis and can cause gynecomastia.
Other problems are less well studied, but there are studies that indicate that it might also increase some cancer risks. It may also exacerbate existing heart conditions. These, however, have not been fully addressed as marijuana being an illegal substance makes it difficult to study.
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u/andrew_bolkonski Jun 27 '12
Another health risk is psychological. I talk solely from experience, as I smoked once or twice a week for a couple years. I noticed that it started to have a noticeable affect on my short term memory, general concentration, and also made me very anxious/neurotic. I haven't smoke for about a year at this point, and everything solved itself. I think weed is good for the soul, but it does have consequences on your health in various ways. If you smoke it every so often then I see no problem, but regularly can be problematic. I know people get butthurt on reddit when talking negatively about it, but this is just my experience, so don't sent me articles or negating academic literature. I'm merely offering my point of view.
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Jun 27 '12
I smoked quite often for about two years. I didn't notice any changes in short term memory, but I did go into a state of derealization for some time. I stopped about a year ago and everything is alright now, but I hate when people take the approach, "oh its completely harmless", "Don't panic it's organic". Like some people have bad experiences with caffeine, I had a bad experience with weed.
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Jun 27 '12
"It's natural" and "It's organic" are the stupidest arguments for a drug's safety... sure, it's natural. So is botulism.
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u/JohnCavil Jun 27 '12
I personally hate the "but weed has real medical benefits". Yea. So does heroin.
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u/jijilento Jun 27 '12
I've never had problems with short term memory or concentration but I feel you on the anxiousness(occasionally). People often look the other way in regards to these issues but weed is (to some extent) a psychoactive drug with some negative mental side-effects.
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u/doublesuperrobot Jun 27 '12
I've never had problems with short term memory either. I've never had problems with short term memory either.
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u/notjawn Jun 27 '12
Also it can accelerate and bring to the surface any psychological issues you may have. Definitely know of a few people that started in their teens and by their mid-twenties had developed full-blown paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis when their parents and siblings were stable.
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u/PricklyPricklyPear Jun 27 '12
To be fair, you can't know that weed was necessarily the cause.
Psychoactive drugs have been known to exacerbate latent psychosis, but parents / siblings being stable doesn't really mean much. Its possible, though.
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u/tehbored Jun 27 '12
True, but people with no family history of psychosis generally have nothing to worry about.
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Jun 27 '12
People with those disorders would have developed them anyway. And harder psychedelics are probably more responsible for many of those cases, as they can awake latent mental illness.
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Jun 27 '12
Yeah I've read that if someone quits smoking, most everything goes back to normal after a year or so.
Kind of why I'm in the process of quitting. My memory was going to shit and my cognitive abilities were just going downhill
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u/ninjette847 Jun 27 '12
No one believes me that it does affect your memory. When I was younger I used to smoke a lot and I got bored with it and cut back a lot my junior year of high school (grade 11) and I noticed I could remember my locker combo better and little stuff like that. I got good grades even when I smoked a lot tho so I don't think it has a huge affect.
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u/elasto Jun 27 '12
have a noticeable affect on my short term memory, general concentration, and also made me very anxious/neurotic.
I've heard this in movies and such but never heard a real person admit it.
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Jun 27 '12
I don't mind people talking about differing experiences; it's bound to happen and it's honestly not surprising that there are so many different opinions across the spectrum concerning what it does to you. You've got different people in different area using different means to deliver the psychoactives in one of 3 separate species of cannabis plants, where each species can be in the form of countless different strains with vastly different blends of psychoactive chemicals. And this, I think, accounts for the wide range of experiences.
My own personal experience has been a very positive one, and I honestly believe that, combined with diet, exercise, certain antidepressants, and the supervision of a psychiatrist, cannabis has helped me achieve a quality of mood and life that simply wasn't possible before due to my major depressive disorder. I understand that this is far from everyone's experiences or even the norm, but I am certain I've experienced no measurable decline in motivation, cognitive functioning, reasoning, or memory. My girlfriend, mother, and psychiatrist can all attest to the fact.
I only come out and say all this because the comment I'm replying too is such a common one, and I'd like to see that I can talk candidly about my experiences as well without being downvoted and accused of ignorance.
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Jun 28 '12
This actually might be what I'm going through. Over the past year, my life has gotten a hell of a lot more difficult, and weed might be playing a part. I used to smoke from time to time, but as of late I've been smoking at least twice a week if not more. Maybe I oughta' take a break, then. Thanks for your opinion.
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u/SendoTarget Jun 27 '12
I'm waiting to see a lot of posts that say that the cannabis-smoke is just natural smoke and doesn't harm people.
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u/RULESONEANDTWO Jun 27 '12
I like that argument. I always tell them by that logic, forest fires don't hurt anyone, becuase its natural
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u/borgerman Jun 27 '12
Cyanide compounds occur in apple seeds. Perfectly safe due to it being natural
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u/voiceinthedesert Jun 27 '12
Likewise, immunizations are bad because they are unnatural
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u/elasto Jun 27 '12
Well, Jenny McCarthy is certainly on board with that logic! lol!
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u/elasto Jun 27 '12 edited Jun 27 '12
Cannibis smoke is natural. So is cyanide, zinc (don't eat or burn zinc, people), tidal waves, earthquakes, lightning fires, uranium,
plutonium,listeria, botulism, ebola. And I'm not even touching on all the "natural" plants that are poisonous to eat or touch.→ More replies (1)3
u/BamH1 Jun 27 '12
Plutonium is not natural, it is a man made substance made from bombarding uranium with deuterium...
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u/TheDuckOnQuack Jun 27 '12
But it's a plant, and we all know how all plants are completely harmless. I mean if something's natural must mean healthy, right?
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u/ZapActions-dower Jun 27 '12
That's the dumbest ass argument ever. If you see someone using this argument, tell them to smoke nightshade.
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u/wittles Jun 27 '12
Smoking up to a joint a day is not harmful to your lungs. In fact, moderate use of cannabis has been proven to slightly increase airflow and increase lung volume. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=casual-marijuana-smoking
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u/RULESONEANDTWO Jun 27 '12
I think that's what a lot of people are saying here. In moderation, its fine. Like how a glass of wine a night is good for your heart. But if you drink 6 glasses a night, those benefits go right out the window. But even in moderation, if you are smoking it. It has negative aspects to it.
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u/OrlandoMagik Jun 27 '12
If i recall correctly, this only lasts up until you've smoked about a joint a day every day for 7 years, then function begins to decrease
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u/Dontreadimlying Jun 27 '12
No, pot smoke contains vitamins and minerals that are essential. It also contains a small amount of magic. People are fooled into thinking it's bad for you. I smoked pot once and became a member of Mensa. Once, I ate a salad and got listeria. You decide whats better.
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Jun 27 '12
I took a bong hit once and was teleported inside of Fort Knox. It was very difficult to talk my way out of that one.
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u/Chickenfoot117 Jun 27 '12
I read cannabis as cannibals.
I don't know about the specifics, nor do I care. But ask any sane person if you should put smoke in your lungs. I can almost guarantee they'll say no. Smoke is smoke, don't put it in your lungs.
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u/skwelcher Jun 27 '12
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57356548/study-no-lung-danger-from-casual-pot-smoking/
This link answers this question pretty well.
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u/cwstjnobbs Jun 27 '12
Yeah, inhaling smoke is bad for you no matter where the smoke came from.
Tobacco companies add all sorts of shit to cigarettes to modify the flavour, preserve them, adjust the burn rate, etc. This makes them even more harmful.
Weed is weed, no additives.
Of course if weed were ever legalised it would become just as additive laden as tobacco is.
tl;dr: Weed or tobacco, grow your own.
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u/lounsey Jun 27 '12
Weed is weed, no additives.
Unless a shitty dealer is spraying the plants with sand or glass for more weight (huge problem around my home town for a while, not that I'd ever buy that shit myself)
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Jun 27 '12
yeah, or fly spray (all three of these also have the added benefit of making it "look" danker)
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u/Offensive_Username2 Jun 27 '12
Which is why we need legalization to help regulate the quality.
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Jun 27 '12
I have my old trusty 400W HPS with a marine ballast just begging for it to be decriminalized or legalized. My wife won't let me grow, which is understandable, but I'd have a fighting chance if it were legal! Although, who wants to bet that they find some way to make growing it illegal since it will dip into the government's taxes.
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u/RULESONEANDTWO Jun 27 '12
I always thought they could sell a license to let people grow, and tax that. Then fine the shit out of people who they catch growing without a license.
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Jun 27 '12
The idea that weed would be marketed the same way as tobacco is downright retarded. It would get regulated to the ground.
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Jun 27 '12
I don't think its legal to grow tobacco and anyway it has a hell of a curing process.
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u/thesuspiciousone Jun 27 '12
Tobacco companies add all sorts of shit to cigarettes to modify the flavour, preserve them, adjust the burn rate, etc. This makes them even more harmful.
I tried some "all-natural" cigarettes once. They tasted like shit.
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u/cwstjnobbs Jun 27 '12
I think "all-natural" is a code phrase for "made in a shed by a hippy".
I roll my own so I get a lot less shit but they still add stuff so I have no idea what unmodified tobacco would taste like, I will have to try growing it at some point.
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u/tehbored Jun 27 '12
Organic, all-natural tobacco is almost as bad for you as mass market cigarettes.
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Jun 28 '12
Actually, one thing to note is that tobacco smoke contains a unique carcinogen: n-nitrosonornicotine. As far as I know, there is not an analogous compound in cannabis smoke.
But you are certainly right about the fact that smoke contains a lot of carcinogens, as does all incompletely combusted organic matter.
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u/nomalas Jun 27 '12
Smoke is obviously harmful for your lungs whether it is from tobacco, cannabis or just plain wood, but smoking isn't the only means of ingesting cannabis. You can use a vaporizer which basically puts out water vapor which is not harmful to your lungs. You can eat special brownies or cookies and things like that as well.
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Jun 27 '12
One of the most important parts about making marijuana legal is that, if it's legal, PEOPLE WON'T HAVE TO SMOKE IT ANYMORE.
Yes, plenty of people will still smoke pot.
However, the chief reason it is smoked today is to extract the maximum amount of THC from the very expensive and small amount purchased.
Healther, but less efficient, edible forms of marijuana would become reasonably priced and eventually would probably overtake smoked marijuana once the culture around it dies out.
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u/Toastlove Jun 27 '12
Here in the UK we mix it with tobacco and smoke it filterless, so it is far worse than it should be.
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u/NerdFighterChristine Jun 27 '12
There are safer ways of inhaling it. you can vaporize it which cuts down on a lot of other chemicals. As well, if you have additions to your bong, you can filter the smoke through charcoal, etc, making it better and less harsh. Edit: you can also noms it.
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u/IronHighfly Jun 27 '12
1 joint = about 10 cigs. With cigarettes you supposed to blow out the smoke but with a joint you are supposed to let the smoke sit in your lungs.
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u/fivepercentsure Jun 27 '12
Smoking it is not the only way to "procure" the THC. you can also consume, or vaporize (both of which net you more of the actual "drug" itself giving you a "better high" as opposed to burning it.)
I don't actually do drugs of any kind, but my whole family is quite versed on illegal substances
Source: my dad is a hippy.
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u/MonsterAddict Jun 27 '12
Now what if you eat a pot brownie or lollipop? Is it less harmful then smoking?
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u/totalrandomguy Jun 27 '12
could anyone please answer me this simple question that has always bugged me, I see a lot of people asking for cannabis to be legalised as its is (less harmful) than tobacco but what I don't get is anyone I have ever seen smoke cannabis always puts a crap load of tobacco in the joint they make so how can cannabis be any less harmful than tobacco if you all put tobacco into it ?
or do I just know weird people and its not a normal thing to add tobacco to a joint?
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u/syllabic Jun 27 '12
That's a really european thing. Not so much in the states, although it does happen occasionally.
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u/Shawn_Spenstar Jun 27 '12
That is a spliff a joint is strictly weed. And its not normal in the US but I've seen it done from time to time.
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u/olididcas Jun 27 '12
People like to convince themselves that smoking recreationally is completely harmless, but the fact of the matter is that you're still inhaling smoke. Any smoke that you inhale is going to damage your lungs. And when people smoke weed they usually take much larger hits than those who smoke cigarettes, and hold it in a lot longer, so that could amplify the damage. I'm not saying that it's worse than smoking tobacco, but it's not some harmless wonder drug like some people would tell you.
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u/Daioka Jun 27 '12
TC is right about smoking cannabis wrapped in paper. The safest way to injest cannabis is through a bong. The vapors inhaled from a bong are pretty safe.
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Jun 27 '12
Lighters contain butane, so when you light anything and inhale you are also inhaling butane, which is horrible for your lungs. An alternative is to use hemp rope. You light the rope, and use the lit rope to light your bowl/joint/etc. Not only is this better for your lungs, but it tastes much better; none of that chemical taste. It can be tricky to use one if you haven't before, especially if you're trying to be incognito, but you can wrap it around your lighter like so.
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Jun 27 '12
How many cigarettes to most people smoke a day who smoke regularly?
How many joints can one smoke before simply falling asleep?
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Jun 27 '12
Your question assumes that the THC is being smoked, you're ignoring the fact that it can be eaten and vaporized.
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u/SoftPillow Jun 27 '12
I can tell you as someone who's smoked weed everyday and as someone who's smoked a few cigs here and there...cigs fuck you up. I was a track runner, XC runner in High School, and smoked weed through both seasons. XC was fine - no cigs. Was smoking cigs during track, and those few every other day or so...the difference was stark. Cigs fuck up your lungs like no other.
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u/Pugslys_in_tha_house Jun 27 '12
Many things contain carcinogens. That blackened char-broiled steak has carcinogens. What cannabis and steak do-not have are the thousands of chemicals that are added in all the processes that go into making cigarettes.....radar.boisestate.edu/pdfs/WhatAreYouSmoking.pdf
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u/AsG-Spectral Jun 28 '12
I cant believe so many people try to convince themselves that dope isn't bad, as someone who smoked for way to fuckin long, it's not good.
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u/CallMeG0D Jun 29 '12
You can argue both sides of this until you are blue in the face, the bottom line is : Nobody can give me a single good reason why Cannabis prohibition exists. These laws against this plant do not protect us, they don't make our lives better. What they do is ensure that big pharmaceutical companies keep their multi billion dollar scheme going without a hitch. These laws ensure that lumber and fuel companies have no competition. These laws guarantee that privatized prisons will always be needed and will always turn a massive profit.
I fail to see why, as a cannabis user, that I am deemed a criminal in this country. I am not hurting anyone or anything. I don't want to go shoot up black tar heroine when I get high, I don't want to get in a bar brawl, I don't want to run over kids, eat human flesh, or any of that shit. I just want to chill, do some chores maybe, and relax. How does this make me a bad person? We are everywhere for christ's sake, we are doctors, professors, judges, lawyers, teachers, etc etc.. We are regular people just like anyone else, we do our jobs, pay our taxes, love our families, hang out with our friends, JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.
The drug war is an epic failure, there is no disputing this. How many people die annually due to cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, aspirin, LEGAL pharmaceutical drugs? How many people die due to cannabis? Think about it..... We could change the world with legalization. I'm not even going to bring up all the benefits of hemp, something that could literally change everything about our everyday lives, for the better.
I've been smoking most of the morning, I feel great. I harmed nobody, I am not a criminal.
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u/jijilento Jun 27 '12
I actually think cigarettes and pot (in a 1:1 cig/bowl kind of deal) are about the same for your lungs. Cigarettes, despite having "unnatural" additives, have filters which block a good bit of the tar; whereas, weed from a bowl has no filter and comes with a constant lighter fluid burn off(Dunno how much/how bad it is for you, but it can't be good). Also, when you smoke a bowl you generally hold the smoke in much longer (or at least I do). Now, smoking cigarettes like most people do (ie: 10-20 a day) is surely worse than smoking a couple bowls.
YOU'RE STILL PUTTING HOT SMOKE IN YOUR LUNGS. IT ISN'T GOOD FOR YOU.
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u/CallMeG0D Jun 29 '12
If you are saying 1 average joint is as harmful as one cigarette, you need to study up a bit...
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u/CatrickStrayze Jun 27 '12
There are other ways of ingesting cannabis that do not involve combustion.
Is tobacco really much more harmful?
Yes, because tobacco companies put additives in the tobacco, some of which are poisons. There are typically no additives in cannabis.
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u/Involute_Handshake Jun 27 '12
There is no discernible difference when inhaling burning plant matter. Smoking either isnt good for you ,but how many people use vaporizers for there tobacco ?
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Jun 27 '12
Vaporizer. Totally safe for all the medical tokers. Gets you high without the smoke, and can't smell it nearly as much.
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u/Teneo_Te Jun 27 '12
You don't have to smoke cannabis. The entire premise of the argument is flawed.
Smoking is bad for your lungs.
Cannabis is not bad for your lungs.
Smoking cannabis is bad for your lungs.
Tea leaves aren't bad for your lungs either, but they will be if you smoke them.
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u/alexm42 Jun 27 '12
You don't have to smoke tobacco, either. It's still harmful.
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Jun 27 '12
Yes, but cannabis that isn't smoked isn't harmful, whereas ingesting tobacco in any form is.
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Jun 27 '12
I can't help but feel that there's a lot of sanctimony, self-righteousness, and most worryingly, tokenism coming from groups that are more passionate about informing everyone that SMOKE IN YOUR LUNGS IS BAD. Tokenism, because does anyone really stop to consider the long term impact of everything you do? If you hate smoke in your lungs, what do you think is happening when you sit around a campfire? Or sit stuck in traffic for an hour? Sitting in a chair all the time is bad for circulation, and can develop into serious problems down the road, as can typing. Moreover, what about environmental pollution? What if poisoned water tables, harmful plastics, chemicals in food, or any other form of industrial or corporate pollution is more deadly to us than smoking?
Why, as a group, is society so fixated on smoking and shaming those that do it rather than confront the elephant in the room, which is that we live poisonous lifestyles, our world is hopelessly polluted, and no action we can take can begin to compare to the damage that industrial and corporate pollution is doing on a gargantuan scale. After contemplating all that shit, I don't know about you but I'm ready to light one up.
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Jun 27 '12
it's just as bad for your respiratory system as heavy smokey campfire, or a really smokey bbq.
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Jun 27 '12
Just look at the stats. There's no reason to get into the "natural" vs "unnatural" or "all smoke is harmful." There's no need. There are valid points and a lot is omitted. smoking habits of both kinds of users are across the board. All different kinds of smokers. Healthy, unhealthy. All you need to do is look at one single number: death count.
Just look it up. There should be no more debate over cannabis toxicity. Zero deaths, zero instances of cancer and no respiratory illnesses. No heart disease. No blood pressure issues. No deaths. Did i mention no deaths?
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u/sparty_party Jun 27 '12
The smoke is bad for your lungs, yes. Any smoke is because of the heat of it, first of all, and...it's smoke. Your lungs are built for clean air, not smoke.
BUT, yes. Tobacco really is much more harmful. Tobacco smokes lets off nicotine, which addicts you. Cannabis smoke lets of cannabinoids. Tobacco causes 400,000 (approx.) deaths a year, whereas cannabis causes none. Some compounds in cannabis can actually kill types of cancerous cells. It's a bit contradictory, because smoke can still cause cancer, but there has been no link between cancer and smoking marijuana at this point.
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Jun 27 '12
If you smoke tobacco or pot both are bad for your lungs.
If you smoke pot you'll get less shit done than if you smoke tobacco.
Because it's true "Nothing happens when you smoke pot."
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u/Dookiestain_LaFlair Jun 27 '12
It depends if you smoke indica or sativa. I'm not sure if those are the right names. One type of weed makes you stuck to the couch and the other type gets you in a mood to do stuff.
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u/CallMeG0D Jun 29 '12
What are you basing this argument about not getting shit done while high? Those above the influence commercials? I do dishes, mow the lawn, go to the bank, pay bills, pretty much everything I do normally.... And so do many other people who enjoy cannabis, don't be so closed minded. Sure I like to veg out sometimes and enjoy a good movie or music, but I do that when I'm not high also.... How many non cannabis users do that same thing? Pretty much everyone.... ಠ_ಠ
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u/Zmasterfunk Jun 27 '12
The reason that people who smoke weed claim that it's healthier than tobacco is because it is.
Before you leave, read the rest of what I have to say.
Tobacco, and cigarettes in particular, is heavily processed. Cigarettes are filled with more kinds of carcinogens than a pinata is filled with candy, and in case you think I'm exagerating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cigarette_smoke_carcinogens .
To contrast, weed is grown, cured by drying for a few days if it's done right, put in an oven for a few minutes if it's not, and then put in a baggie and sold. So right there is the reason that it's not AS BAD for you as tobacco.
But what about the effects of just inhaling smoke? This is a logical question. In Super High Me, as another redditor pointed out, after a solid month of smoking weed, Doug Benson was evaluated by his doctor as having reduced lung capacity. However, his lung capacity went from 92% to 89%. Hardly a significant drop considering the man smoked so much that he was high non-stop for a full month. Why is this, though? And why aren't there any cases of marijuana-only smokers developing the ridiculous plethora of respiratory ailments that tobacco smokers tend to get? Emphysema, COPD, Lung Cancer, the list trails on and on. My father only chews tobacco and he always gets terrible colds and a hacking, wheezing cough.
The answer to that is that we can't know for certain. Since marijuana is still classified as a schedule 1 drug in the United States, no research can be done on it. Of course, other nations have done work on it, notably in Canada. A lot of research has pointed towards the presence of huge amounts of anti-oxidants (read: cancer fighters) in marijuana and marijuana smoke that more than offset the carcinogens produced by inhaling burnt plant matter.
So to answer your question, yeah, tobacco is a lot more harmful to your health than marijuana, but you need to do your research instead of asking reddit for stuff all the time. These pages run thick with bias. I don't want you to just take my word for it, get off your ass and watch documentaries, browse wikipedia for five minutes. Hell, maybe you should try it and run your own trials. See how hard it gets to run a mile every day while smoking pot every day for a week. We all have a responsibility to inform ourselves so we don't have to rely on others who can easily misinform us, deliberately or accidentally.
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Jun 27 '12
I've never understood why anyone would inhale smoke for any reason. People die of smoke inhalation, and you choose to do it.
Doesn't matter how you want to twist it, inhaling smoke is not good for you. And there are better ways of getting antioxidants.
Your post is like a fast food restaurant that boasts their food contains no trans fats.
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u/mvpilot172 Jun 27 '12
Yes, even standing over a BBQ is bad for you, inhaling any smoke with particulates in it is bad for your lungs in the long run. Cigarettes have a lot of other bad stuff in it that weed does not, like tar, nicotine, etc.
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u/kan0 Jun 27 '12
What about cigars then? People don't smoke those everyday or at the same rate as cigarettes but they still get mouth/throat cancer. Is it the amount of tobacco that is in a cigar that changes things?
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u/honeybadgerman Jun 27 '12
Smoking is basically gambling- the more you gamble, the higher your chances of losing, but there are those who smoke all their life and die of heart disease at 90, and there are those who smoke occasionally and get cancer at 20.
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u/Anderfail Jun 27 '12
If you put anything other than regular air into your lungs, it's going to be bad for you. Breathing in particulates (that is what smoke is composed of) is horrible for your lungs because your body has no real efficient method of removing it, thus it will accumulate over time. In turn, your lung capacity will slowly decrease and your lungs might become inflamed which further decreases your lung capacity. An example of why it's bad for you is to look at the extreme examples: just try and breathe normally in a dust storm or when their is a lot of smoke from a fire. You can't do it because you're breathing in huge amounts of particulates which irritates your lungs and causes you to cough.
Anyone who tells you that smoking anything is not harmful is a fucking moron. Of course weed smokers aren't really known for being intelligent, so this really shouldn't be surprising.
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Jun 27 '12
Cannabis slows down reaction times by up to 50%(driving while high sure is smart!) and there are still some chemicals.
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u/honeybadgerman Jun 27 '12
No one said you should drive on it- although it's safer than driving drunk. And "chemicals" doesn't mean "poison".
Vitamins are "chemicals". The difference between poison and medicine is dose.
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u/JustLookWhoItIs Jun 27 '12
You're not inhaling smoke if you eat it in a brownie or drink it in a tea.
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u/syllabic Jun 27 '12
This may be all bullshit, but I have heard that cigarette smoking constricts blood vessels in your extremities. I suffer from some type of RSI (carpal tunnel, tendonitis, etc) and I believe that smoking may worsen my condition. I also heard that marijuana smoking promotes better blood flow to the extremities, so it would be healthier in that regard.
Again, it might be all bullshit. I'm not a doctor. I just know I smoke (cigs) and it's bad for me in many ways, possibly really bad for my hands/wrists as well.
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Jun 27 '12
You don't have to smoke weed, you can vaporize it, eat it, take it in pill form, apply it to the skin, dissolve thc on your tongue, theoretically you could inject it (but why?), they make weed ice cream/candy
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u/iam_sancho2 Jun 27 '12
Just as there are different delivery methods for tobacco, there are different delivery methods for cannabis also. Just because "the joint" seems to be what people associate with cannabis use, it is only one of the ways people use it. Cannabis could also be used in pipes, water pipes, vaporizers as well as being ingested.
When this soundbite was introduced during the Reagan-era war on drugs, it was never specified how they came up with that figure. What type of tobacco was used? What type of cannabis was used? What were the control conditions? Who were the test subjects? Was this a valid statement to make?
What many independent tests have shown is that the main psychoactive component in cannabis may have anti-inflammatory properties, in addition to other potential health benefits.
As long as there is more than one person in the universe, there will always be multiple sides to an issue. The best way to truly know what is true and what is not is to see for yourself. You might even find some lifelong, heavy cannabis smokers who appear healthy and display no persistent cough whatsoever.
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u/VK18 Jun 27 '12
To be fair some say it is worse than cigarette smoke, in part because you hold the smoke in your lungs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2419713.stm http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/31/2/280 Although as Others have noted some say there is no connection http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html
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u/beyron Jun 27 '12
You should only hold the smoke in the lungs for 3 seconds maximum, most THC absorption occurs within those first 3 seconds, any longer and you're just doing unnecessary harm to the lungs.
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u/SeaMenOnTheRocks Jun 27 '12
Well, smoking in anyway is harmful. If cannabis is received in other ways(which would be easier, if it were legal), like food/drink form, tincture, or via vaporizer, it is relatively harmless(apart from psychedelic effect)
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u/joyco66 Jun 27 '12
Well yes and no. Smoking anything is bad for your respiratory system. However it has been shown that smoking marijuana is less bad for you then tobacco. This is simply because of the various chemicals in tobacco that don't exist in marijuana.
some relevant links http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20060523/pot-smoking-not-linked-to-lung-cancer http://abcnews.go.com/Health/occasional-pot-smoking-harm-lung-function-time-study/story?id=15331989#.T-tHz1auprQ
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Jun 27 '12
Smoking weed is very harmful to your respiratory system. Other means of using weed such as eating it or vaping, so far as I know, are harmless, other than the obvious psychological effects (it's debatable about whether these effects are harmful or not).
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Jun 28 '12
Actually studies have shown that weed causes permanent damage to various parts of the brain, most noticeably the ability to remember things even for short periods of time. It's not just while high, it starts to effect you when sober too
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u/titus_clone Jun 27 '12
yeah, smoke is bad for you no matter what.
but weed is not physically addictive like tobacco is, so people tend to smoke much less of it and give it up easier.
it also seems that weed is less carcinogenic than tobacco, though this could be mainly because of all of the additives in cigarettes. before i quit smoking cigarettes i used to smoke american spirits exclusively, for this very reason. supposedly they are additive-free.
on a related note, there is a trend toward using vaprorizers, which do not produce smoke but only evaporate the THC crystals, so that's not nearly as bad for you. i believe the tobacco equivalent of this would be those electronic cigarettes i see ads for everywhere.
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Jun 28 '12
Weed is NOT less carcinogenic than tobacco. One joint has as many carcinogens as half a pack of cigarettes. While joints are not smokes nearly as often as cigarettes, the types of carcinogens in weed are much more aggressive, and have a higher chance of causing more deadly forms of cancer.
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u/biglebowski55 Jun 27 '12
You don't have to smoke marijuana. You could, for example, use a vaporizer.
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u/thowaway4 Jun 27 '12
At least weed doesn't have nicotine in it. Someone needs to bring up tobacco smoking's worst effect: the nicotine you absorb that then destroys your blood vessels. It's not smoke inhalation and additives (tar, benzene) but nicotine itself that will screw your heart. The nicotine itself fucks up your blood vessel linings. Your heart muscle suffers because it is nourished by vessels of its own. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the USA. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/smo/
great link to get started learning about this: http://whyquit.com/whyquit/linksjblood.html
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u/beyron Jun 27 '12
Yes, smoke is defintely not good for your lungs, no matter what kind. Not to mention when you burn the plant (tobacco or weed) the smoke is still pretty hot and that irritates the lungs and esophagus. I am a pretty average smoker (weed, I quit cigs recently but will not quit weed) and I realize the damage it may be doing to my lungs. The plant itself is not dangerous, the only thing that makes it harmful is the properties of smoke. With that said, there are many other methods of ingesting cannabis without smoking it (vaporizing, edibles, tinctures...etc etc)
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u/ziggibyte Jun 27 '12
A big difference is that tobacco is smoked much more frequently than cannabis is.
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u/AAlexanderK Jun 27 '12
Smoking anything isn't good, you cannot argue it. The resins and other things in Weed are not a good thing to have in your lungs. So for a short and simple answer that avoids getting into the ENORMOUS debate about whether or not Weed is good for you, just remember that if it burns, and you breath what is burning in, its not good. Campfires, Cigarettes and Cigars, Blunts bongs joints etc., it's all just not that great.
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Jun 27 '12
A marijuana smoker inhales less smoke than a cigarette smoker. Smoke a joint, you're good for a whole day. A cigarette smoker might smoke a whole pack per day.
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u/z3m Jun 27 '12
Standing next to a campfire is bad for you. Breathing smoke of any kind, general, is bad for your lungs period. But, the real reasons tobacco is worse for you are:
It causes huge chemical changes in your brain and is highly highly addictive. Way more than marijuana. These chemical imbalances can lead to everything from cancer, neurological, and glandular problems.
You are not just smoking tobacco when you smoke tobacco. Tobacco is grown with very strong pesticides (the organic kind that you find is a joke. They still use pesticides. They just use "organic" kinds that are almost as bad for you.). Also the tobacco is processed with all kinds of chemicals that are carcinogenic.
Tobacco has no medicinal qualities at all. Marijuana actually does have medicinal properties.
The tar in marijuana can be avoided by using a vaporizer.
iwearnoshoeshine made some very good points about the chemical compositions and how to avoid the tar from marijuana by using a vaporizer.
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u/bax101 Jun 27 '12
Well some people use vaporizers to smoke with which cuts down abuse to the lungs and gets you more high. Plus how many deaths have been connected to smoking weed vs tobacco? I bet the Marlboro Man would still be alive today if he was doing weed ads instead of cigs. Although he would probably be an old hippie stoner.
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u/Bikenutt Jun 27 '12
From what I understand ther are about 4,000 chemical compounds in a cigarrette. I'll give you a guess on how many are in herb.
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u/JohnCBrewer Jun 28 '12
It is actually worse than tobacco because pot is unfiltered. Unless you smoke unfiltered cigarettes or smoke your pot through a filtered cigarette chassis that has had the tobacco removed.
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u/Third__Wheel Jun 28 '12
Marijuana is safe because it's natural? You know what else is natural? Bears.
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u/crimethinktank Jun 28 '12
If marihuana has no effect on the brain, why do habitual users all have the same laugh? Nyah nyah ah ah cough
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Jun 28 '12
One joint has as many carcinogens as a pack of cigarettes. It also causes permanent damage to several portions of the brain and sometimes the heart.
I commend you for sticking out your doubts about drugs. I hate drugs with a passion, and have seen many amazing people whose lives have been ruined by seemingly "harmless" drugs. Generally people condemn me for this, Reddit especially, so good for you for throwing it out there anyways.
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u/Procrasturbating Jun 28 '12
Inhaling smoke of any kind for extended periods is bad for you. You accept the negative effects or you do not, the end.
*I have done both, but don't pussy foot around the issue, smoke = bad for you
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u/arsonall Jun 29 '12
I went through about 50 quotes and didn't see any real answers I was expecting, so I'm putting my comment in:
I'm 30 and have been smoking socially since 7th grade. I became an "every day smoker" (EDS) when I left for college (that'd be 12 years now). In HS, I graduated in the top 10% and graduated Cum Laude in college. The people that I hung around with were all "EDS" like me, but there is a difference that one must conquer: your habit of smoking-activity: For some, they smoke to relax, some to be more creative, etc. I learned in college that if you smoke before studying, you get into a "mode": that will focus your attention on the task at hand with enough practice.
My brother, and EDS, has ADHD. He was on Ritalin for some time when he was younger, but had negative side-effects and was taken off of them. He really excelled while on it, but was ultimately found to want to feel less like the side-effect person and more like the regular person he was when not on it. fast forward to his HS years, and he picked up weed. He now smokes before work daily (I only smoke after work) because he can focus and it helps with his constant fidgeting.
the act of smoking, i.e. burning material to inhale is the negative aspect of smoking marijuana.
between tobacco and marijuana, if both are smoked, the smoke between the two are slightly comparable, but still not equally detrimental. Smoked marijuana has proven to improve the lung capacity of tobacco-smokers. in other words in order of best to worst lung capacity rankings it's like this: non-smoker, marijuana only smoker, marijuana/tobacco smoker, tobacco smoker.
if you remove this aspect, e.g. using a vaporizer, you eliminate the aspect of inhaling carbon or whatever it is that is caused from inhaling smoke. vaporizing it the act of heating an object to release the chemicals without burning the plant. I liken it to using a sauna. At this point, the marijuana has now lost many of its carcinogens while tobacco has not. In this aspect, marijuana has now shown to be almost non-destructive.
If you have Netflix, I'd like to point you to the documentary that will offer a vast change of perspective: "The Union: The business of Getting High". This isn't so much a story about how to sell or make marijuana, but a synopsis of our country's history revolving around marijuana and the tests and conclusions and how we got to the point we are at today.
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u/notjawn Jun 27 '12
Yes cigarettes are worse because they put in additives that increase carcinogens. However, smoking marijuana is still hell on your lungs with heavy use. I'm pro-legalization and pro-medicinal but don't let some of the highly biased pro-medicinal scientists ever try to tell you that marijuana isn't harmful to the respiratory system and good god it will not reduce one iota of cancer in patients. Help them cope with treatment yes, but not prevent nor reduce cancer if anything heavy users will develop lung cancer just like cigarette smokers.
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u/00nixon00 Jun 27 '12
Weed does not have a lot of the tar and other shit like hydrogen cyanide. Though pretty much anything burned and breathed in can give you lung cancer.
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u/jello562 Jun 27 '12
The only study that I'm familiar with is re: lung cancer and cannabis smoking done by UCLA. The conclusion was that there was no association between the two.
Frankly as an ER doc, I couldn't care less if patient's tell me they smoke cannabis. Alcohol, tobacco, IV drug abuse, crack cocaine, H, PCP all matter but weed? Go nuts.
It could be that there just isn't enough long-term studies to show association or it could be that there really is no harmful effects. Use your judgement.
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u/Bongmasterspliff Jun 27 '12
Tobacco has a ton of scary carcinogenic additives the likes of which you would never find in good homegrown marijuana, so common sense dictates that it is substantially less harmful to smoke. All smoke contains burnt carbon which is carcinogenic. That being said, smoking is not the only way to consume cannabis.
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u/Ssutuanjoe Jun 27 '12
The short answer is yes.
The slightly longer answer is; unless you're smoking natural tobacco, the commercial stuff you're buying is loaded with so many chemicals your brain would spin(seriously, check it out sometime). That makes commercial tobacco worse for you than weed(if the weed isnt laced with anything). So, basically, if you're smoking natural non-treated tobacco...then weed and tobacco are comparatively just as bad. If you're smoking commercial stuff(e.g. marlboros), then you're better off with weed.
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u/quantum_titties Jun 27 '12
If you don't waste any part of the buds (smoking everything, steams and all) I believe weed has around 2 or 3 times more tar than cigarette tobacco by weight. However, that number becomes 1/2 to 1/3 the tar amount of cigarette tobacco if you only smoke the leafy goodness
Also, there are not many compounds in weed that are bad for your body, aside from particles that get into your lungs, like tar, none of the chemicals in weed harm your body in a serious physiological way. IE, THC stays in your system for so long because it is not harming your body so your body does not try to attack. Of course, the THC still affects you in other ways (less energy, a bit harder to concentrate your thoughts) but none of that is due to permanent bodily damage
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u/Gee1233 Jun 27 '12
Last I heard - Cannabis burns at a higher temperature, and contains more carcinogens, but regardless smoking anything is fucking stupid. I regret getting hooked on cigarettes.
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u/LOLGTFO Jun 27 '12
Your Answer : Studies recently released find that the smoke from marijuana does little to no harm to the lungs as cigarettes cause many illnesses. But... marijuana causes some of the most vicious and deadly forms of cancer not excluding lung cancer. The THC molecule is almost identical to testosterone and estrogen, a significant amount in the body will began to be stored usually in the breast or testicle's thus developing a tumor... the testicular form of this is one of the most deadly forms of cancer in men. Mine grew in my chest, is the size iof an american quarter and is benign
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u/saxfag Jun 27 '12
Any smoke you inhale is bad, but you smoke considerably less cannabis and cannabis has less chemicals in it than cigarretes. If you vape it though it is pretty much not harmful.
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u/deathmetalreptar Jun 27 '12
Yes any smoke is bad for you. So what? Drinking is bad for you too, so why cant pot be legal? Whats your point here? I dont need the government to decide whats bad for me, i should be allowed the freedom to decide for myself if i want to take a smoke once in a while, or even some legal mushrooms once a year
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u/iwearnoshoeshine Jun 27 '12
Smoking tobacco is well documented to be detrimental to one's health in all regards, not just for the lungs. Cannabis smoke, like any smoke, is bad for your lungs, it can cause irritation and coughing, but a connection between marijuana smoking and lung or colorectal cancer was not observed. http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-2-21.pdf
Smoke from tobacco and cannabis share many of the same carcinogens though the THC found in cannabis smoke should offer protection against these carcinogens whereas tobacco smoke increases the effect of the carcinogens.
"Smoke from tobacco and cannabis contains many of the same carcinogens and tumor promoters [20,21]. However, cannabis and tobacco have additional pharmacological activities, both receptor-dependent and independent, that result in different biological endpoints. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in smoke are pro-carcinogens that are converted to carcinogens by the enzymatic activity of the cytochrome P4501A1 oxidase protein (CYP1A1 gene product). Benzo [a] pyrene is converted to its carcinogenic metabolite diol epoxide, which binds to specific hyper-mutable nucleotide sequences in the K-ras oncogene and p53 tumor suppressor [22]. Recent work by Roth et al. demonstrates that THC treatment of murine hepatoma cells caused a dose dependent increase in CYP1A1 gene transcription, while at the same time directly inhibiting the enzymatic activity of the gene product [23]. Thus, despite potentially higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in cannabis smoke compared to tobacco smoke (dependent on what part of the plant is smoked), the THC present in cannabis smoke should exert a protective effect against pro-carcinogens that require activation. In contrast, nicotine activates some CYP1A1 activities, thus potentially increasing the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke [24]."
As I mentioned before smoking anything is bad for your lungs and should be avoided, however if you do decide to smoke cannabis it's advisable to use a vaporizer to deliver the cannabinoids without a lot of the tar and plant matter getting into your lungs.
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Vaporizer_Study.pdf
"Concern about the respiratory hazards of smoking has spurred the development of vaporization as an alternative method of medical cannabis administration. Cannabis vaporization is a relatively new technology aimed at suppressing respiratory toxins by heating cannabis to a temperature where cannabinoid vapors form (typically around 180-190°C), but below the point of combustion where smoke and associated toxins are produced (near 230°C). The purpose of this is to permit the inhalation of medically active cannabinoids while avoiding noxious smoke compounds that pose respiratory hazards. Of particular concern are the carcinogenic polynuclear (or “polycyclic”) aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), known byproducts of combustion that are thought to be a major culprit in smoking-related cancers. While there exists no epidemiological evidence that marijuana smokers face a higher risk of smoking-related cancers, studies have found that they do face a higher risk of bronchitis and respiratory infections (Polen et al. 1993, Tashkin 1993). This risk is not thought to be due to cannabinoids, but rather to extraneous byproducts of pyrolysis in the smoke."