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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Experts say cannabis as bad as tobacco for lungs
Ananova
Monday 12 Aug 2002 Scientists in New Zealand say smoking cannabis is as bad for your lungs as smoking cigarettes. Smoking both substances narrowed people's airways even more than smoking one of them. The study by Dunedin School of Medicine involved examining how much breath about 900 people aged 18 to 26 could expel forcefully from their lungs. They were examined three times in eight years. People who smoked cannabis or tobacco expelled less air in a second than non-smokers and took longer to expel all the air from their lungs because their airways had narrowed slightly. Airflows decreased even more when people smoked cannabis and tobacco. Smokers' breathing and airways were affected by the tar in tobacco. Cannabis had similar levels. One of the study's authors, associate professor Robin Taylor, said: "You can't say cannabis is safe any more than you can say tobacco is safe. The health message is clear - don't be burning vegetable matter and inhaling it." The New Zealand Herald reports the information was gathered as part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and analysed by respiratory researchers. Their interest was sparked by cannabis use increasing significantly in most developed countries in the past three decades, and people increasingly questioning if it was worse than smoking tobacco. The study will continue when the study group members are aged 32 to 37.
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