Quote from Maverick74:
Yes I agree with that. Pot smokers tend to smoke substantially less then tobacco smokers which does minimize the dangers.
Marijuana smoke contains more tar, carbon monoxide and known cancer causing agents than tobacco. Marijuana is especially harmful to the lungs because users often inhale the unfiltered smoke deeply and hold it in their lungs as long as possible. Since the smoke is in contact with lung tissue for long periods of time, the lungs become more irritated and damaged than when smoking tobacco. Scientists know that tobacco causes lung cancer. One joint of pot deposits 11 times the amount of tar and 5 times as much carbon monoxide as a cigarette does. Many pot smokers also smoke tobacco. That is double trouble for their lungs.
From the studies which have been conducted, we know that incidents of cancer from cigarette smoking are far more numerous than cancers from smoking pot, at least in part because more people smoke cigarettes. Also, even frequent marijuana users consume less than heavy cigarette smokers. But like I said earlier, marijuana smokers do tend to inhale more deeply and keep the smoke in their lungs for a longer period than tobacco smokers. It is possible that these behaviors increase the lung's exposure to the chemical by-products of smoking. Burning marijuana for smoking releases many substances other than THC, the ingredient which produces the drug's psychoactive effects. THC does not appear to be carcinogenic, but some of the other chemicals released by both marijuana and tobacco smoke are problematic. These include tar, carbon monoxide, and cyanide. One known carcinogen, benzopyrene, though found in both types of smoke, seems to be greater in pot smoke.
Anyway, I don't want this to turn into should you smoke pot or not, I don't care if you do, or if you eat fried foods, or down a fifth of Jack Daniels every night. It's your choice and you live with it. But like I said, it would destroy the healthcare system in this country and that is how it relates to me and most everyone else. And that is very problematic.
i also saw a study by NORML - showed that any device (bong/vaporizer/filtered joint) used to clean out the tar/toxins actually cleaned out more THC - thus you had to smoke more to get the same amount of THC into you with a worse ratio of thc/tar.
so if everyone would eat it instead.. but that might cause other issues.
but this whole healthcare thing - should we start banning sports? fast cars? what about if you sleep around a lot and get HIV?