Quote (Cazzy @ Wed, Jun 24 2009, 05:43pm)
Here this site should help:
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/
i've taken a look at it
(http://www.ukcia.org/research/SmokingGun/ASmokingGun.pdf this one)
First of all. They dont tell us anything about the people testet in this study. Maybe they took 50 very healthy smokers between 20 and 30 and compared them to 50 ill ganja-smokers between 60 and 70? (I think they did not, but i cant tell for sure)
Another big problem is, that they compare 1 cigarett to 1 joint. This is not a very realistical thing, because very few ganjasmokers will smoke 20+ joints a day, wereas 20 cigaretts are no problem for some smokers. It would be a better to compare the impact of "joints smoked by day" with the impact of "cigaretts smoked by day".
Another problem is (they name it thereself also):
"Cannabis resin, the most commonly used form of
cannabis in the United Kingdom, is often smoked
mixed with tobacco. Although this can confound
research on the respiratory effects of smoking
pure cannabis, the well-documented consequences
of smoking tobacco need therefore also
be considered in the evaluation of the effects of
cannabis smoking on respiratory health."
page 6 in this artikle.
Thats a big big problem. Nobody can say how much damadge is caused by ganja and how much by standard tobacco.
Next problem:
Ganja is smoked in Joints, most zigaretts are non joints, means they have a "more sucessfull" filter.
Maybe the difference between smoker and ganjasmoker is caused by the filter difference. It would be possible, that ganja has no effect et all and the tobacco threw the bad filter does all the dam.
Last and MOST IMORTANT part.
The study is based on the impact of ganja SMOKING. There are various other ways to consume marihuana. So this study cant be a reason for keeping ganja illegal.
First of all, as i sayed, there are a lot of "non-smoking"-ways to consume it. 2nd: If you legalise it you can built propper filters for joints too. Maybe the dangerous affect of smoking would be smaller.
Just to let you know. I a not pot-smoker. I stoped it about 3-4 years, but still i think it should be legal for the people who want to consume it.
just my 2 cents