Mike Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Smoking anything is bad for you. I've heard of somebody getting throat cancer after having five spliffs when they were at college, but of course that's pretty unlucky. Did your friend smoke pure skunk, or did he mix it with tobacco? Cannabis use can exacerbate existing mental problems. I don't think anyone should think any narcotic is completely benign. I like the old adage "what goes up must come down". Hence you get a hangover after drinking, rough lungs after smoking, depression after ecstasy, etc, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBouncer Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 I don't know if it was pure skunk or mixed with tobacco... but the Dr's did tell him his condition was due to the drugs he smoked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Originally posted by gloworm I cant believe people are still coming out with this rubbish about cannabis being less dangerous than tobacco...how do you work that out. There's actually probably more poisons in cannabis than tobacco. Thats the physical side. Then add the mental problems which affect at least some dope smokers though I havent heard off too many tobacco smokers with mental illness from their drug of choice have you? [/b] Spending £35 a week on a drug that does nothing but calm the craving for the drug, makes your breath smell and kills you pretty much qualifies as insane. As to your point about how much more dangerous Cannabis is than Tobacco. Well, it's mostly a question of quantity. A 'standard' tobacco smoker (20 a day) can get through 15-20 grams of freon inflated tobacco with anything up to 600 additives. A dedicated cannabis smoker (5-7 pipes or bongs/day)can get through 3-4 grams a day (although for most smokers 3 grams will last all week) of cannabis flowering tops with no additives. So put head to head, regular smokers of cigarettes will inhale 5 times as much smoke as heavy cannabis smokers. That's 500% more carcinogens. Despite all the additives the smoke from the two products is not really very different in terms of carcinogens. You can see a comparison of results from Gas Chromatograph analyses of Tobacco and Cannabis smoke here So heavy 'cannabis only' smokers actually ingest about a fifth to a tenth of the amount of carcinogens that a moderate cigarette smoker. But a heavy cigarette smoker (40 a day - 32 grams) will ingest as much as 100 times the amount of carcinogens ingested by a moderate (.3 - .5 grams a day) cannabis smoker. The links between Cannabis and Mental Illness, such as schizophrenia is not proven. There are certainly links between the two, but there is a paucity of high quality research on the subject, largely because it is illegal, and experimental studies are difficult and expensive to organise. Cannabis is not risk-free. It is harmful. I'm not denying that for a moment. But that does not in any way mark it out as anything special. But as far as this debate goes, I do think that: a)as adults we should be permitted to make our own decisions about what we take into our bodies. b)keeping a drug prohibited exacerbates the negative effects of the drug (i.e prohibition in the US). c)users of illegal drugs are very hard to criticise effectively because they are 'outside' the law already. Witness the success of the drink driving campaign over the last 20 years where drink driving went from socially acceptable to social pariah. If alcohol had been illegal, that campaign would not have been possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Originally posted by DaBouncer A friend of mine had a heart attack at 33 because he smokes skunk for so many years. What happened wa that is wore away some of the lining around one of his artery's around his heart. He now can't work ever again, get over stressed (physical or mental) and has a very low quality of life.... all due to smoking weed! Weed may not be as bad as other drugs, but dont kid yourself.. it IS bad! True, but your friend is very, very unlucky. I've searched medline and the bmj and the new scientist, and cannot find any suggested link between cannabis use and thinning of artery lining. Smoking tobacco certainly can contribute to atherosclerosis (fatty plaque deposits) so cannabis will do that also. but that is a thickining of the coronary artery lining, not a wearing away. Any idea what the condition was called? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBouncer Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 I dont actually... I will ask him though and get back to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t020 Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Originally posted by Phanerothyme True, but your friend is very, very unlucky. I've searched medline and the bmj and the new scientist, and cannot find any suggested link between cannabis use and thinning of artery lining. Smoking tobacco certainly can contribute to atherosclerosis (fatty plaque deposits) so cannabis will do that also. but that is a thickining of the coronary artery lining, not a wearing away. Any idea what the condition was called? What does 'thickining' mean? I've searched Google but can't make any sense of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Originally posted by t020 What does 'thickining' mean? I've searched Google but can't make any sense of it. Heh, if you really had searched google for 'thickining' (I've saved you the trouble here) you would immediately be asked: Did you mean: thickening and then you would get 184 hits on academic papers. But since you asked, it's a misspelling. Obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t020 Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 What??? YOU made a spelling mistake? Surely not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Originally posted by t020 What??? YOU made a spelling mistake? Surely not. I was going to ask why you lied about searching google, but then we'd be dritfing off the topic of 'Cannabis Cafe in Sheffield' (well, were pretty far off it already, but still relevent at least). Any other baffling errors in my post that I can clear up for you? there are three deliberate errors here just for you t020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodge Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Originally posted by Phanerothyme Any other baffling errors in my post that I can clear up for you? "then" should have 3 ns - "thennn" - tut tut... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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