Smoking pot doesn't hurt lung capacity, 20 year study shows! Report in AMA Journal

[Better Believe It]

Smoking pot doesn't hurt lung capacity, study shows
By Kimberly Hayes Taylor
January 10, 2011

Periodically smoking marijuana doesn't appear to hurt lung capacity, the largest study ever conducted on pot smokers has found.

Even though most marijuana smokers tend to inhale deeply and hold the smoke in for as long as they can before exhaling, the lung capacity didn't deteriorate even among those who smoked a joint a day for seven years or once a week for 20 years, according to the study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.

In recent years, studies on marijuana smoking and its effects on lung function have been contradictory. While most studies have shown no effects on the lungs from smoking cannabis, others have shown adverse effects, and still others have shown improvement in lung function. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and University of Alabama at Birmingham knew tobacco smoking causes lung damage and leads to respiratory issues such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but they wanted to be clear whether smoking marijuana, had similar effects.

They measured lung function multiple times in more than 5,100 men and women during a 20-year period. In fact, the research shows, some people who regularly smoke marijuana can have a slight improvement in lung function.

Read the full article at:

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/10/10098412-smoking-pot-doesnt-hurt-lung-capacity-study-shows

[kayakjohnny]

1. Good luck with this thread.

There is an anti pot group that will be here any minute to crap on your post.

[Better Believe It]

2. And they object to pot because they believe the propaganda in "Reefer Madness"?

So I take it they are prohibitionists. Do they also advocate outlawing the selling of liquor and tobacco?

Or perhaps they are Mormons.

Does this anti-pot grouplet want to increase the legal penalties for simple use?

This is the first I've heard of an actual anti-pot group on DU.

[kayakjohnny]

3. Just give your thread a little time.

You will see what I mean.

[hootinholler]

7. Oddly enough

I think they may have BBI on ignore.

[Better Believe It]

9. Well, if prohibitionists have me on ignore I'm pleased to hear that!

[hootinholler]

11. There's a bit of cross over

With the authoritarian crowd that you seem to piss off regularly.

[Better Believe It]

17. Those are what use to be called the "cold war" Democrats back in the 50's?

[arcane1]

4. But, but, but, but...

ah hell I can't think of anything

[cthulu2016]

5. They didn't account for the possibility

that cheetos might be so awesome for lung function that they are off-setting a mild lung detriment from weed itself.

[Logical]

6. I have NEVER smoked pot and NEVER will........

but it should be legal to purchase and smoke in your home.

Stupid laws. Maybe once the old people die it will become legal.

[Better Believe It]

8. Good. So long as you're not a modern day prohibitionist!

Take care and hope you have other "vices" you might enjoy.

[Logical]

10. Yes I do. And hell, if pot was legal I might try a brownie or two!! :-)

[Better Believe It]

12. I think you'd find it difficult to stop at having two pot brownies!

It's called the attack of the munchies!

[phleshdef]

22. Hehe. Well that depends on how strong they are.

And those things take about an hour or so to kick in and it kind of sneaks up on ya. Oh but when it does...

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. Old people? don't smoke pot and don't want it legalized? How old are we talking here?

[Logical]

15. In polls, it is always the 55 and over crowd that is most opposed to legalization.

[yawnmaster]

14. Well that's only for those smoking one joint a day for seven years...

what about the pot chain smokers?!!?!

like at least 24 a day for 7 years.

[Better Believe It]

16. Even Cheech and Chong were not pot "chain smokers"!

[phleshdef]

20. 24 a day? You haven't actually met many pot smokers have you?

Being able to afford a habit like that would run you hundreds of dollars a DAY, let alone the fact that you wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough to come even close to that. And no one who smokes weed WANTS to smoke even half that much in even the worst case scenario. A typical person could stay high all day long on significantly less than that. And if you use a water pipe or a vaporizer, it might not even take a full joint's worth of the stuff to keep a daily user happy, depending on quality of course.

[yawnmaster]

23. I've definitely never met a chain pot smoker of say 20 or more a day.

I think I've met pot smokers.
There may even be some here at work.
How does one tell if a person one meets is a pot smoker?

[phleshdef]

25. Hehe, usually you find that out by someone letting you know.

What a lot of people don't understand about marijuana is that a little bit goes a long way.

[frazzled]

18. Well, if you smoked one cigarette a day for seven years

or one a week for 20 years ... actually if you smoked one cigarette a week for 80 years, it's unlikely it would hurt your lung capacity either.

What's the point of this again?

[Better Believe It]

19. "What's the point of this again?" Read the article and you will find out!

One does not smoke pot like cigarettes, 20 or 40 a day, and therefore smoked pot doesn't harm your lungs contrary to the false claims of the prohibitionists.

[xchrom]

21. Du rec. Nt

[deaniac21]

24. I like pot

But if you think smoke doesn't hurt your lungs......

[Better Believe It]

26. Well, at least now we know smoking pot doesn't cause serious damage to your lungs.

I wonder if some will now claim (without evidence) that they have been victims of second hand pot smoke and suffer from COPD because of it.

[deaniac21]

27. I have COPD