Marijuana harms lungs less than tobacco

Study: Marijuana harms lung volume significantly less than tobacco

12/01/2012

According to a US long-term study, smoking marijuana harms lung volume significantly less than tobacco. There was even a slight improvement in lung function among users of the illicit drug who ingested marijuana in moderate amounts - one joint a day.

Tobacco is more commonly consumed as marijuana
Marijuana smoking is banned in most US states. Only in 16 federal states and around the capital Washington D.C. it has been legalized for medical purposes. The recently in the US trade journal „Journal of the American Medical Association“ presented results of a long-term study show that regular marihuana consumption of about one joint per day does not adversely affect lung function.

For the study, the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) has since 1985 assisted 5,115 women and men, of whom about one third said they consumed marijuana. The majority of them were on average two to three joints per month to the occasional consumers.

The smokers among the study participants reported a significantly higher tobacco consumption with an average of eight to nine cigarettes a day. This may explain why marijuana use did not adversely affect lung function even after 20 years. For smokers, on the other hand, the expected reduction in lung volume was demonstrated.

Marijuana has side effects
From a pulmonologist's point of view there are no objections to the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but long-term use, especially among young people, is suspected to favor the development of mental and psychotic disorders.

In Germany, cannabis use goes back among teenagers
According to a study published last year by the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), cannabis use among adolescents is decreasing. However, a third of the surveyed 18- to 25-year-olds said they had tried cannabis before. The BZgA sees the decline as a pleasing signal and attributes it to the unpopularity of smoking. Smoking is among many young people meanwhile „out“, said the spokeswoman for the BZgA, Julia Jakob. Who does not smoke, would not try cannabis. (Ag)

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Image: Henning Hraban Ramm