Skinny,
First of all, you're a waste of my time to "argue" with. You have determined somewhere in your past that quantitative writing has greater validity than qualitative writing. Whatever, that's your choice...but I chose to no longer play your game.
However, I will attempt to correct you on factual information when you are incorrect, since this board's primary function is to educate those who look for and/or need it. This board's secondary function is to provide a place to make love to the sound of your own voice, which is apparently the source of your overwhelming interest. Granted, I too often post for the sheer amusement, but I try to be as helpful,
and factual, as possible when it is needed.
I no longer care to discuss
opinions or
emotions with you since it's obvious we don't see eye to eye on most of them. In fact, I no longer even care if you cover the board in your grandiose declarations of how "brilliant" you are. More than anything (and that includes "sparring" with you) I want people to be fully informed of the drugs they consume.
Unfortunately for the knowledge seeking masses, you feel the need to impart erroneous information, regardless of the genuine nature or intent of your posts. You flagrantly disregard the concept of dispensing FACTUAL information, opting instead to take raw data, then erroneously analyzing it and concluding incorrect or misleading statements. That, Skinny, is dangerous ground.
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well weed has OVER 4000 different chemicals in it while cigarettes only have 2000
It doesn't matter how many chemicals exist in it, it matters what those chemicals are and whether or not they vacate the lungs when you exhale.
The cancerous agent in tobacco and marijuana smoke is benzopyrene. Although it causes cancer, it requires repetative and excessive exposure over the period of years to begin to form pre-cancerous growths. Please see further below how this is more dangerous in cigarettes than marijuana.
Weed causes lung cancer MUCH quicker than cigarettes. I joint is like an AVERAGE of 20 cigarettes on your lungs.
Show me one respected study...just one, that backs up this claim (the cancerous aspect). Until you do, I will take this as one more example of your baseless bravado.
True, there are more tars/compounds in marijuana smoke than in tobacco smoke, but these encourage emphezema, bronchitis, and pnuemonia; this isn't an indicator that marijuana is cancerous. In fact, being a bronchial dilator, marijuana effectively removes most of its own carcinogenic components...it's essetially self-cleaning when it comes to its cancerous components. Cigarettes are not bronchial dilators and their carcinogenic components are not expectorated when you exhale...they become permanent residents in your lungs.
If you dont belive that then ask ANY doctor or marijuana specialist. You are in major denial of your life if you dont belive it
Have you actually talked to a "marijuana expert?" I'm not asking this for the sake of the eternal pissing contest of which you seek, I'm asking this for the sake of the marijuana smokers out there; it's better to know the truth than to attempt to "win" an argument, which seems to be your main goal in life. Just for a moment, stop despising me and think of the people out there that need to know the CORRECT information.
Ya see, Skinny, I used to be one of the two leaders of The Hemp Coalition on NCSU's campus aout 7 years ago...I actually researched this stuff for about 8 months, giving me greater knowledge on this subject than the average medical doctor. Have you put any where near that effort into it, or are you just repeating what somebody told you? Again, think of the philanthropic nature of this discussion and not your own ego. My pride and yours are not what's at stake here...people's health is.
Some quotes for your own edification:
When mice with implanted lung cancer tumors were given THC and other major ingredients of marijuana, tumor growth was slowed down and these test animals lived longer than those that did not receive these active cannabinoids.
This is thought to be an effective counterbalance to the limited exposure to benzopyrene that regular users of marijuana face. The one essentially cancels out the other.
A recent study reported results that suggested marijuana users face a higher risk of cancer than normal. You should know that the same journal which published this study also published in the same issue a study that found a greater risk of the *same types of cancer* in users of birth control pills. Many in the scientific community have denounced both these studies as statistical manipulation and as utter nonsense. Drug war supporters, however, have embraced this study as proof of the dangers and inherent evil of cannabis.
A study suggesting that the THC in marijuana may promote a carcinogenic effect flies in the face of Louis S. Harris's findings in Analgesic and Anti-Tumor Potential of The Cannabinoids that delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC and cannabinol are quite active as anticancer agents.
At the time of Harris's research, no anticancer agent that was much more potent than delta-9 THC existed and no compounds differentiated between tumour and normal cells the way delta-9 THC does. Considering that delta-9 THC alone increased survival in cancerous rats by 36 per cent, it seems very unlikely that THC promotes carcinogenic effects.
THC's known anticarcinogenic properties are probably the reason the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, has never been able to trace any cancers to marijuana use.
Okay, now that I've posted this I want to clear up something: I specifically stated that marijuana doesn't cause cancer...I mentioned nothing about the effects of SMOKING it. Repeated inhalation of
any burning substance is inherently bad for your respiratory system,
but that still doesn't mean it causes cancer. In fact no known study has ever conclusively proven marijuana adversely affects your health in the slightest if you EAT it. Even the death of brain cells is attributed solely to the inhalation of carbon monoxide which replaces oxygen in your hemoglobin...effectively starving your brain.
I will add this as well: smoking spliffs, joints, bones, or blunts is less healthy than smoking through a water bong, since water helps to filter out a sizable portion of the tars and impurities of marijuana. It's easier on your throat and lungs and will limit your exposure to benzopyrene, as the average smoker pulls only a few tubes while the same user would take many puffs off a joint or bowl. BTW, there are no known increasd effects from holding a toke for a period of time...the process only causes a head rush and increases your exposure to the benzopyrene and other tars.
Is smoking marijuana unhealthy? yes; is it cancerous? NO. Perhaps this will be reversed in time, but as to date, there has been no cancer in marijuana users that can be attributed to solely marijuana use. In fact, in a couple of major studies, the marijuana using group actually had FEWER incidences of cancer than the control group did.
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"...I guess it was the beatings [that] made me wise..."
[This message has been edited by Mr. Sticky (edited 31 July 2000).]
