so, let me first say this: i love weed. ive smoked for about 3 years, most of which ive smoked every day. i never really gave any thought to how the use of pot could possibly affect me health, but one day after i toked up i read this article on digg that said you have approximately a 5 fold increase for the developing several kinds of cancer, the highest being lung, and that really freaked me out. does anyone know of a case where someone actually got cancer from smoking pot? theres a website, cancer.org i think, it says that, statistically, you have about a 7% chance of developing lung cancer in your life, which, multiplied by 5, gives me roughly a 35% chance of developing lung cancer, assuming the article was correct. does this sound even remotely true? i knew a guy who smoked weed daily for 10+ years, hes still going strong. the article said smoked weed contains like 148 known carcinogens, i think tobacco contained more, and vaporized weed contained like 10. my question is, do you guys think the possible health risks are worth it? i love weed, i love being stoned, but lately i seem to dwell on the negative thoughts a little more for some reason. do you guys just think ''fuck it, whatever''? when i first started, i thought to myself, im going to smoke until the day i die. but are the possible risks worth being stoned? this isnt a ''weed is bad'' thread, very much the opposite, i would just like to know what you guys think about the risks, and how you convince yourself to either not think about it, or dismiss the risks entirely. since i reaD that article, ive smoked 2 joints in the past month and a half, and i dont plan to smoke anymore, im saving for a vaporizer and until i have one, i will remain sober.
The major risk of weed comes from the carcinogens in the burned plant material. If you're that worried about it, start vaping it or making cannabutter to eat. All the other benefits and cancer preventing qualities of cannabis outweigh the risk you take from inhaling burned plant matter. I attribute about as much merit to digg.com as I do to Fox News.
well, i think the article was from some medical journal, not like a tabloid website or anything. im currently 20, and i dont think ill smoke but for maybe a year or 2 tops, ive heard that if you quit smoking at an early age you really dont have much to worry about, i hope thats true lol. how long have you smoked, and do you worry about any health risks or doyou just not think about it? assuming you smoke at all, that is. and even vaped pot contains several carcinogens, so even though its much less harmful, i think it still poses a risk, albeit very tiny comparatively.
There are people who smoke cigarettes for 80 years and are fine, there just the lucky ones. If pot had a 95% (I'm obviously being ridiculous with that percentage) chance of causing cancer there would still be people who didn't get it. Just because someone does something and you do the same, it does not mean the risk factors will play out. ANYWAY, to answer your question, inhaling any type of smoke, including one's from a campfire or BBQ can cause cancer, smoking weed can cause cancer, but it is just not a hugely high number. But the fact that you smoke every day does increase your risk. Weed is much safer than cigs and cigars, but it is healthier to not smoke. I honestly think you will be fine.
Well, it sounds like you've already made up your mind to quit. I smoke sporadically, for a few years I smoked every day, multiple times a day but I never smoked cigs and live an otherwise healthy lifestyle. I haven't smoked in a month because I was job hunting but before that I smoked maybe once a week and ate cannabis cookies 2-3 times a week. If I worried about the small health risk I take by smoking on average 3-4 times a month, I'd have to worry about a piano falling on me as I walked out my front door every day, and that's not any kind of life to live. To me, the benefits of cannabis highly outweigh the risks, so although it's something I've take into consideration, it's not something I'm overly worried about. The amount of carcinogens you take in from non-smoked weed is about the same as you take in from eating an unwashed apple. You can decide for yourself whether or not the health risk is worth it. http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20051017/pot-smoke-less-carcinogenic-than-tobacco ^^^This article (from webMD which is a pretty respectable source for medical info), though a bit dated basically says that since THC is carcinogen-inhibiting, the THC you take in from the smoke essentially helps to cancel out the carcinogens from the burned plant matter. That's basically what I stated that in my first post... Again, eating cannabis completely eliminates any risk of consuming smoke-related carcinogens.
