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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: The High Health Cost of Smoking a Joint
ccguide Saturday 01 Mar 2003 Pubdate: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 Source: Herald, The (UK) Copyright: 2003 The Herald Contact: Website: http://www.theherald.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/189 Author: Alan MacDermid Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom) THE HIGH HEALTH COST OF SMOKING A JOINT Disease Fills the Lungs of Heavy Users With Cysts THE very name given to the latest disorder associated with cannabis-smoking has a sinister ring to it. Cancer, schizophrenia and impotence have been joined in the litany of ill-effects by vanishing lung syndrome. It is a distinctive feature of the 30-somethings - and some even younger - regularly turning up at Glasgow Royal Infirmary with what they thought were routine respiratory symptoms. Dr Martin Johnson, who first encountered the syndrome in Bristol, is alerted by apparent emphysema, insufficient tobacco exposure to account for it, and a history of cannabis smoking. High resolution CT scans confirm the diagnosis. The alveoli - the air sacs in the lung which permit the transfer of oxygen into the blood - have been displaced by big cysts, called giant bullae, cutting the lung's function by up to a third and crowding the chest cavity. Sometimes the effect is a collapsed lung. Marijuana has already been implicated in lung cancer, and a report last year by the British Lung Foundation - challenged by the drug liberalisation lobby - claimed that three joints a day caused the same damage to the airways as 20 cigarettes. Lung cancer patients are now appearing at younger ages than in the past. As with lung cancer, the problem with vanishing lung syndrome may not be so much to do with the content of the drug as with the way it is smoked. "We were wondering what the mechanism was and we suspect it is because when you smoke drugs you tend to take much deeper breaths and hold it in longer than you would with tobacco, in order to get the effect," said Dr Johnson. "We have also come across it in heroin smokers. It might not be damaging their veins, as injecting would, but it does damage their lungs. "It is not normally a common condition, but there is a possibility that it is common in heavier cannabis smokers - more so than they might think. You can develop quite a lot of lung damage before you become symptomatic. We had one whose lung was collapsing and another disabled by breathlessness." Typically, a patient will come in with some other respiratory complaint, like a flare-up of asthma. The patients Dr Johnson sees are relatively young, they have all been male, typically 30-40, but some in their mid-twenties - much younger than the typical sufferer from tobacco-related lung disease. If they have symptoms, these tend to be associated with other problems. Given the growing political lobby to legalise marijuana, Dr Johnson believes that its possible that toxic effects on the lungs need further study. "We haven't had time to follow through the long-term effects. I would think it is permanent. That is the usual course. They will run out of lung by the time they are 70 or 80." Young cannabis smokers have also been a growing phenomenon recently at another Royal Infirmary department - the sexual health clinic. It has been blamed for lowering testosterone levels and causing impotence. Its psychiatric effects have also been a growing concern. It is suspected of causing schizophrenia, or provoking the illness where it is latent. Heavy daily use has also been linked to a condition known as toxic psychosis, resulting in panic, fear, and hallucination, and the effects most often associated with the drug - lethargy, poor concentration, and short-term memory. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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