So I was in psychology class yesterday..

and we were talking about something( I forgot about it) and we came to the smoking part with cigarettes and the cancer thing. My friend freaked out because he smokes alot of cigarettes(our teacher was saying smoking causes cancer well duh we all know that) but then she was talking about marijuana and said something about cancer. Without even thinking about it, I said to the teacher, marijuna causes cancer all nervously?! The whole class was laughing and everyone thinks I'm a regular pot smoker haha!! LOL

 

I saw a study a few months ago that showed THC fought against abnormal cell growth. Cancer causes rapid division of cells which is something THC would fight.

 

I think that if one were to smoke nothing but organic pot out of glass pipes and organic papers then cancer couldnt happen but when growers fill their pot with chemicals and fertalizers, you run the risk for cancer.

 

By organic papers you mean joints?

 

I think he means the clear cellulose ones.

 

Or he could be taking about the RAW unbleached vegan papers.

 

A few studies indicate that inhaled smoke from any burning plant product causes the same type of damage to lungs and throat as cigarette smoke. The way marijuana is smoked contributes to this damage. Although people who smoke marijuana generally smoke fewer marijuana cigarettes than people who smoke tobacco cigarettes, they tend to inhale more smoke per puff and hold it in their lungs for as much as four times longer. Because of this, some estimate that smoking 3 to 4 marijuana cigarettes per day is roughly equivalent to smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes. Marijuana users may have many of the same health problems as cigarette smokers, including an increased risk of cancer.


From the Canadian Cancer Society.

 

I think that study was just about joints.

 

^ If you smoke out of a bong you can't get cancer No matter what.

And it filters out the "addictive" shit too!

 

-smoking out of bowls or bongs does not decrease the tendency to hold hits in and inhale them deeply. joints are mentioned (i believe) as a means to make a quantitative comparison of how much material is being smoked. there is no reason to assume that the effects would be qualitatively different from smoking bowls, bongs, or whatever you like.

-many substances are commonly added to cigarette tobacco. smokers show extremely high rates of cancer in the respiratory system. common anti-tobacco ads and such talk about all the different nasty substances found in cigarette smoke....carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic.....yes, some of these chemicals (ammonium, i believe is one?) are added to the tobacco for one reason or another. regulating burn...accelerating nicotine absorbtion. but in fact MOST of these really nasty "ingredients" are in fact naturally occuring by products of burning tobacco leaves. they say they put "embalming fluid" and "rat poison" in cigarettes. these things are natural by products of burning the tobacco, even if it IS lethally poisonous in larger quantities. there is a widespread myth that "additive free" tobacco is somehow better for you. it certainly can't hurt MORE to smoke it, but it will have virtually the same components, and will affect your health in a nearly identical fashion.

smoking pot is burning plant matter. a different plant than tobacco with different chemical makeup, and understandably with different by products when smoked. pot smoke is NOT the same as tobacco smoke, and will NOT have an identical effect on one's health. that said, it stands to reason that most of the nasty things naturally made when burning tobacco will also be creating by burning marijuana. carbon monoxide is a prime example, i would suppose. organic marijuana may well be better for you, but if its anything like tobacco evidence would not support this substantially. i still would advocate it, though, and it more often tastes way better, whether it is or isnt healthier!

-despite this, and the fact that smoking pot inevitably involves inhaling dangerous natural chemical byproducts, there is not a single documented case of a death from overdose on THC, and to my limited knowledge there is also a total lack of documented cases of cancer of any sort being directly tied to marijuana use

-there have been studies which suggested that THC possessed cancer fighting properties. additionally cannabis is often prescribed, where legal, to help fight the nausea associated with chemotherapy. even if some of the compounds naturally found in cannabis smoke were potentially carcinogenic, there is the chance that most of them are found in smaller quantities than in tobacco smoke, and there is the chance that said studies were correct in suggesting that marijuana may possess cancer fighting properties. if this is in fact true, the THC may actually help prevent cancer as wel, and may go a long way in explaining why the highly elevated cancer rate in cigarette smokers is not evident also in the group of people who smoke cannabis and nothing else. lord knows plenty of potheads smoke stuff with fertilizers and insecticides and all manner of things just like you find with cigarettes, yet pot smokers who do not also smoke tobacco dont experience increased rates of cancer compared to complete nonsmokers.

-even if you can't get cancer from pot, or if its so rare as to be essentially undocumented after a very substantial period of widespread use, it still doesnt make smoking it a healthy activity. it is still bad for the respiratory system, even if it isnt anywhere close to as dangerous or deadly as tobacco. you can still develop a smokers cough. and smoking blunts drastically increases the damage the smoke does, by adding a HIGHLY unnatural form of tobacco into the mix.

-there is evidence to support the claim that vaporisers are far, far less harmful than other means of smoking pot. it can still tear up your throat, though, and the whip gets fucking tarry, so i can say i think such claims are a little exagerated, though it certainly must be at least somewhat less harmful. a much better idea for a healthy alternative is ingesting it with food or beverage. if you aren't particularly concerned with the harmful aspects of alcohol, a very nice preparation is to soak some herb in some extremely strong spirit for a while, strain off the solids and then drink the extract. i did this very recently in a shot of everclear with about a gram and a half of bud. since it was everclear (95%ABV) i only soaked it for a few hours. a long period of time isn't necessary for such a strong liquor. i figured if people can get good product with less than an hour or so of macerating pot in isopropyl alcohol for hash oil (the quick wash method) than a short period of time in ethyl alcohol (grain alcohol, booze) should also work well. but instead of a few minutes, i did a few hours, shaking periodically, simply to take fewer chances.

stuff was nasty, mixed with a little cola and taken as a shot. but i had a fucking mellow evening, and a shots worth of everclear will give you a little buzz on its own, too.

but people talk about having to soak pot in booze for a month to get full effects....i think its bull. almost all the goodies are pulled out early on....soak longer and you'll only pull out more of the nasty tasting and undesirable stuff...if using everclear you could probably make a good tincture in about half an hour, if well ground and shaken frequently. you can make hash oil this way with very strong rubbing alcohol, so long as it has no additives...why wouldnt it work with drinkable alcohol as well?

the stuff about macerating for a month....maybe that would be a good idea if using vodka. wouldnt be terrible to soak for a week or so if using 151.....

but use everclear, and you can drink it the day you make it, as far as i'm concerned...

anyway, i love grass, but even if its not so harmful as tobacco, you have to realize that smoking it is NOT good for your lungs and throat, no matter how its grown....

vapes may help.

taking pot orally completely sidesteps the issue, and is virtually harmless (unless you eat or drink too much and pass out for a day or so....then you've wasted time and money )

 

and actually, there is ample evidence that smoking bongs is actually worse for you than smoking a bowl or even a joint.

 

Please don't post stuff like this, it's 100% false.

The only thing a bong filters is most of the tar. The addictiveness of marijuana is in the THC, which obviously gets through.

Tar is also not the only thing that causes cancer, so does heat and smoke. A water bong doesn't cool smoke enough to not make it carcinogenic. Marijuana smoke and Cigarette smoke shares about 50 of the same toxic chemicals.

Please, please, please. Stop treating weed like the magical tooth fairy plant. All rules of chemistry and health apply to it. It is a drug, with serious physical consequences.

 

Psh. The whole "holding it in longer" theory... I hold my doob hits in about as long as my tobacco hits in... Say 5 seconds.

And, by law, all commercial tobacco in the US must be grown in soil containing plutonium 210 or some shit, and then that somehow gets metabolized by the plant and becomes cancerous or something like that... Thats why I'm growing my own tobacco...

 

You hold in cigarette smoke for 5 seconds? I'm not a regular smoker but my cig smoke is exhaled almost as quickly as i inhale it.

 

Heat it up a bit, and make sure its ground really fine.

get a hot plate or something.

 

i seriously think cigs are way worse than weed by a looooooooooong shot.

i mean you can just feel it, like the taste of the chemicals and the harshness it puts on your lungs. and all the short term effects from cigs.

ive never coughed up phlegm had rumbling lungs fuckin aching in periods when i only smoke weed.

cigs are way worse.

 

There is no definitive link between cannabis and lung cancer. Also, the only 'dangers' which can arise are solely from smoking and the damage done to the lungs. This 'problem' can be solved by vaporizing or eating. However, i will say that substantial damage to the lungs would only occur from practically constant and chronic smoking, every day, for years and years. It's worth the risk to me.


12) Isn't smoking marijuana worse for you than smoking cigarettes?

There are many reasons why it is not. You may have heard that ``one joint is equal to ten cigarrettes'' but this is exagerrated and misleading. Marijuana does contain more tar than tobacco -- but low tar cigarettes cause just as much cancer, so what is that supposed to mean? Scientists have shown that smoking any plant is bad for your lungs, because it increases the number of `lesions' in your small airways. This usually does not threaten your life, but there is a chance it will lead to infections. Marijuana users who are worried about this can find less harmful ways of taking marijuana like eating or vaporizing. (Be careful -- marijuana is safe to eat -- but tobacco is not, you might overdose!) Marijuana does not seem to cause cancer the way tobacco does, though.

Here is a list of interesting facts about marijuana smoking
and tobacco smoking:
o Marijuana smokers generally don't chain smoke, and so they smoke less. (Marijuana is not physically
addictive like tobacco.) The more potent marijuana is, the less a smoker will use at a time.
o Tobacco contains nicotine, and marijuana doesn't. Nicotine may harden the arteries and may be
responsible for much of the heart disease caused by tobacco. New research has found that it may also cause a lot of the cancer in tobacco smokers and people who live or work where tobacco is smoked. This is because it breaks down into a cancer causing chemical called `N Nitrosamine' when it is burned (and maybe even while it is inside the body as well.)

o Marijuana contains THC. THC is a bronchial dilator, which means it works like a cough drop and opens up your lungs, which aids clearance of smoke and dirt. Nicotine does just the opposite; it makes your lungs bunch up and makes it harder to cough anything up.

o There are benefits from marijuana (besides bronchial dilation) that you don't get from tobacco. Mainly,
marijuana makes you relax, which improves your health and well-being.

o Scientists do not really know what it is that causes malignant lung cancer in tobacco. Many think it may be a substance known as Lead 210. Of course, there are many other theories as to what does cause cancer, but if this is true, it is easy to see why NO CASE OF LUNG CANCER RESULTING FROM MARIJUANA USE ALONE HAS EVER BEEN DOCUMENTED, because tobacco contains much more of this substance than marijuana.

o Marijuana laws make it harder to use marijuana without damaging your body. Water-pipes are illegal
in many states. Filtered cigarettes, vaporizers, and inhalers have to be mass produced, which is hard to arrange `underground.' People don't eat marijuana often because you need more to get as high that way, and it isn't cheap or easy to get (which is the reason why some people will stoop to smoking leaves.) This may sound funny to you -- but the more legal marijuana gets, the safer it is.
-------------------------
It is pretty obvious to users that marijuana prohibition laws are not ``for their own good.'' In addition to the above, legal marijuana would be clean and free from adulturants. Some people add other drugs to marijuana before they sell it. Some people spray room freshener on it or soak in in chemicals like formaldehyde! A lot of the marijuana is grown outdoors, where it may be sprayed with pesticides or contaminated with dangerous fungi. If the government really cared about our health, they would form an agency which would make sure only quality marijuana was sold. This would be cheaper than keeping it illegal, and it would keep people from getting hurt and going to the emergency room.

http://cannabis.com/faqs/cannabis_f...s_1994/cannabis_truths_myths_facts_3.html#312

 

conventional wisdom.

in my experience, the added heat was unnecessary.

i had pleasant results with just a few hours of maceration at room temperature

 

wow... :toetap05:

 

okay in nesta's post he mentioned the one confirmed overdose of THC. this is true, however, it was intentional, and eating 200 times your body weight in anything will kill you. yes you read that correctly, the OD50 for pot is roughly 200 times your body weight, depending on potency.

secondly. thc has many chemical forms, some of which are digestible by the human digestive system, others are not. the natural form while in a plant is thc9, and after heated to about 180 degrees faranheit it is converted to thc11. thc9 is not digestible orally or inhaled (cause you cant inhale it if its not a vapor obviously) so the theory behind making weed alcohol is very flawed, unless you use weed from the end of your joint, or resin scraped from your pipe. you could also thc isnt water soluable, but it is fat soluable. so theoretically you could make beer with resin or burned weed that would get you quite lit.

also somewhere along the thread i saw that someone had said that bongs were worse for you than bowls or joints, but this is not true. although it is true that on average you will get a bigger hit off of a bong, this also means that if the same amount of weed is smoked, there will be fewer hits. also reasons for a bong being better for you: any ash that sucks through will be trapped in the water and you wont accidentally inhale it, the smoke is cooled (although it isnt cooled enough to make it healthy, it is cooler than a bowl or joint), and chemicals such as fertalizer and other additives are water soluable, and damn my post is starting to get long, sorry.