Marijuana and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
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New evidence suggests smoking tobacco and marijuana can have a synergistic negative effect on pulmonary function, but marijuana by itself is less risky.
Smoking both tobacco and marijuana increases the risk of respiratory symptoms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), found a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Smoking only marijuana, however, was not associated with increased risks...
While tobacco smoking was associated with increased risk, smokers who reported using both tobacco and marijuana were 2.5 times more likely than nonsmokers to have respiratory symptoms and almost 3 times more likely to have COPD as defined by spirometric testing.
"We were able to detect a significant synergistic effect between marijuana smoking and tobacco smoking," write Dr. Wan Tan of the University of British Columbia and St. Paul's Hospital and coauthors. "This effect suggests that smoking marijuana (at least in relatively low doses) may act as a primer, or sensitizer, in the airways to amplify the adverse effects of tobacco on respiratory health."
In a related commentary, Dr. Donald Tashkin of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) writes that "the findings of Tan and colleagues add to the limited evidence of an association between marijuana use and COPD because their study focuses on an older population (aged 40 or older) that is at greater risk of COPD." Previous studies have failed to find an additive effect of marijuana and tobacco on either chronic respiratory symptoms or abnormal lung function in younger smokers. Dr. Tashkin states that "we can be close to concluding that marijuana smoking by itself does not lead to COPD."
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Recently @ DoseNation
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As cannabis keeps proving to have anti cancer properties, COPD and other problems associated with interference of breathing air ways seem to be the only real physical danger of smoking it (aside from weight gain and paranoia induced stupidity). Finding first hand accounts of COPD and smoking pot is not too difficult. There have been some studies and you can find a pretty significant amount of personal accounts on medical bulletin boards. Often times by people diagnosed with early symptoms of COPD that have been advised to quit smoking completely, but seem to keep smoking any ways. Damage to the bodies airways has an accumulative toxicity to the entire body. Fresh air is an essential element to the functioning of the immune systems and all vital organs. And just cause you might not have full blown COPD doesn't mean smoking is harmless. If any of you have seen or experienced the amount of sputum and coughing a heavy chronic smoker produces first hand, you know it can not be in any way good for the human body. Though, most infrequent (read: definitely not daily) smokers might not have to be that incredibly concerned. Regardless, eat it. Not only is eating it free of damage to the body, but it also seems to have all kinds of positive health benefits. And much more efficient. The only down side is that some people can't seem to wait forty minutes or have difficulty planning this far ahead into the future. And for this: patience. Not so bad when it means the difference between fucking awesome lungs or slimey and cough filled lungs. BTW - If any of you super chronic types out there ever experience a strange sharp stabbing pain in your chest on a regular basis - usually on the left side. Keep a nerve on it. Potential symptom of initial phases of COPD.
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