Since we know how bad smoking cigarettes are for your lungs and their health, it could be inferred that smoking marijuana would have the same effects, if not worst. But according to a new large government study, smoking marijuana on a regular basis, even for many years, does not impair your lung function (O’Connor). The researchers followed over 2 decades more than 5,000 people and indeed found that smoking up to a “joint” a day does not impair your lung health. Actually, they found “in something of a twist” that compared to nonsmokers, marijuana users had slightly better results on lung function tests (O’Connor). Dr. Stefan Kertesz said that he “doubts that there are any real increases in lung health, but the tests reflect how marijuana smokers have years of “training” in taking deep breaths and inhaling smoke”. On the other hand, people who smoke both marijuana and cigarettes still have worsening lung conditions, but Dr. Donald Tashkin, a pulmonologist, thinks that the cigarettes are mainly to blame for this. Dr. Tashkin again found that even smoking up to 3 joints a day didn’t appear to impair lung function. With all of this overwhelming evidence, it is hard to believe that so many people are fighting for the legalization of marijuana to be shot down, when all the other health benefits it brings are amazing, and your lungs seem to be staying completely healthy. Within the next 5 to 8 years, I assume marijuana will become 100% legal in almost all 50 states, and that people will start reaping the benefits this plant could bring to so many sick people across the country.
Here is a link to article that I found in the New York Times.
Yeah, I also do not think this is reasonable, because if you look at the act of smoking a joint/blunt as opposed to a vaporizer, you are still inhaling smoke. Just because that smoke is from marijuana instead of tobacco, that does not make it harmless, or, as you mentioned above, “better because of the weed smokers’ better lung experience. I think it would be important to read the source of this study, because as far as I know, SMOKING marijuana is still harmful to the lungs simply because you are inhaling smoke, which is inherently dangerous. Now, something like a vaporizer is possibly what makes it safer than smoking cigarettes, but when lighting up a joint, it must be at least similar in terms of respiratory damage over time to cigs. I can’t understand that it would be significantly safer or beneficial.
I have to disagree with this. Although marijuana mainly effects the brain, in which THC attacks brain cells; other body parts such as the lungs can also be effected. You are inhaling something, which is most likely going to be effecting the lungs. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, and frequent marijuana smokers can have many of the same respiratory problems experienced by tobacco smokers, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, and a heightened risk of lung infections.” I do not by any means believe that marijuana doesn’t effect your lungs at all, I believe that anything you inhale is going to effect your respiratory system.