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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cancer risk '50pc higher in cannabis cigarettes'
Celia Hall The Telegraph
Monday 11 Nov 2002 Cannabis cigarettes have been found to contain 50 per cent more cancer causing agents than ordinary cigarettes and are also likely to be more harmful because of the way people smoke them, researchers say today. The report from the British Lung Foundation says that people who believe that smoking a joint is safe because they are not addicted to cigarettes, are wrong. It says that cannabis cigarettes themselves are more dangerous, that people smoke them differently and that 1960s research suggesting that cannabis cigarettes were safe, can no longer be relied on. Cannabis available today is stronger. "Three or four cannabis cigarettes are equivalent to smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes a day in terms of the risk of lung damage," the report says. "Cannabis tends to be smoked in a way which increases the puff volume by two thirds and the depth of inhalation by one third. There is an average fourfold longer breath holding time with cannabis than with tobacco. "This means that there is a greater respiratory burden of carbon monoxide and smoke particulates, such as tar, than when smoking a similar quantity of tobacco," the report says. The British Lung Foundation is urging the Government to launch a public health information campaign on the risks of cannabis. It also wants to see more research into the effects of cannabis cigarettes on the lungs, especially into the development of Chronic Pulmonary Lung Disease. "These statistics will come as a surprise to many people, especially those who choose to smoke cannabis rather than tobacco in the belief it is 'safer' for them," said Dr Mark Britton, chairman of the foundation. "It is vital that people are fully aware of the dangers so they can make an educated decision and know the damage they may be causing. The report is not about the moral rights and wrongs of cannabis but about simply making sure that everyone is completely clear about the respiratory health risks involved," he said. Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the foundation, said that the puff and inhaled volume of cannabis smoke was four times larger with a cannabis cigarette. "In other words you inhale deeper and hold your breath with the smoke for longer before exhaling. This results in more poisonous carbon monoxide and tar entering the lungs," she said. The report, A Smoking Gun, says: "Not only does the tar in a cannabis cigarette contain many of the same known carcionogens as tobacco smoke but concentrations of these are up to 50 per cent higher in the smoke of a cannabis cigarette. "It also deposits four times as much tar in the respiratory tract as an unfiltered cigarette of the same weight. Smokers of cannabis and tobacco have shown a greater increase in cellular abnormalities indicating a cumulative effect of smoking both," it adds. Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in Britain. In 2000 45 per cent of adults aged 16 to 29 and 25 per cent of adults aged 16 to 59 said they had used it.
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