A cannabis plant
The background
The British Lung Foundation has commissioned a survey into tobacoo and cannabis usage amongst 1,045 people in Britain, and has found that smoking cannabis presents a much greater risk of lung cancer than does tobacco – 20 times more, in fact, reported The Independent. A third of under-24 year olds use the drug; 88 percent think it’s not as dangerous as tobacco; a third think it doesn’t harm your health at all.
Usage of the drug has been linked with a range of problems to do with the lungs, as well as increased psychological disorders, since THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient, has increased twofold since the 1990s. Cannabis is the most widely used drug in Britain: almost a third of the population have tried it, reported The Daily Telegraph. Even US President Barack Obama (allegedly) smoked cannabis during his youth. The survey aims to show that young users are woefully ill-equipped in understanding just how dangerous smoking cannabis is. So how come it’s suddenly really bad for you? Reports agree that it’s mostly to do with how long cannabis users hold in their smoke; not to mention an increased concentration of psychoactive properties. Two long term studies, focusing on 100,000 people in Sweden and the US, however, found that there were no increases in deaths among cannabis users.
What did the survey do?
It looked at scientific evidence on the impact of smoking cannabis, and showed that there was a lot of evidence that it had a high contribution to diseases such as tuberculosis, bronchitis and lung cancer, as well as suppression of the immune system, and heart disease, reported The Telegraph.
Why is it more dangerous?
Cannabis smokers inhale their smoke deeper, and hold it in their lungs for longer than tobacco smokers, resulting in the inhalation of four times as much tar, and five times as much carbon monoxide, said The Independent.
