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| Does Marijuana really cause cancer? Here's the facts!!!! |
I got this information from many sites and I want to give them some mad props for letting me use it
There are no cases of lung cancer to be found in anyone who has just smoked marijuana, regardless of the strength of the herb or the number of years of regular smoking.
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.
The position that benzopyrene in marijuana smoke is cause for alarm is not only totally false, it attempts to bury the evidence that shows that marijuana use may actually help prevent cancer.
Now that both NIDA and the Hawaii State Dept. of Health have concluded that marijuana does not Kill brain cells or Permanently affect male or female reproduction systems according to a Feb. 4, 1994 memo from the Hawaii State Dept. of Health, the unmasking of the false alarms about benzopyrene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marijuana should help in overturning the unjust marijuana prohibition that has led to dramatic increases in crack, ice, gangs that distribute them, and the violence they cause.
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Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, study finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, California researchers said Friday, and aging baby boomers who have been indulging since the swinging 60s may just be starting to feel its ravages.
The report, by Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California Los Angeles, adds to evidence that smoking cannabis can have cancer-causing effects similar to those linked to cigarette smoking.
"Many people may think marijuana is harmless, but it's not," Zhang said in a statement. "The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco. The big message here is that marijuana, like tobacco, can cause cancer."
Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and Prevention, Zhang said he studied 173 patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer, and compared them to 176 cancer-free control patients.
Those who said they habitually smoked marijuana were more likely to be in the group with head and neck cancers. And the more they smoked, the bigger the risk.
"If you smoke a little, your risk increases a little," Zhang said. "If you smoke a lot, your risk increases a lot."
He said pot-smoking baby boomers should be on the lookout for symptoms of head and neck cancer, also very common in cigarette smokers and heavy drinkers.
"In the '60s, we had very high numbers of people in their 20s smoking marijuana," Zhang said. "These people are just now getting to the ages at which they will get head and neck cancers."
Earlier this year, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences reported that marijuana could have some medical uses, notably to treat pain for some terminally ill patients.
But the committee said pills using the active ingredients in marijuana were a safer alternative because smoking marijuana can cause cancer, lung damage and babies with low birth weights in pregnant women.
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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.
By printing articles such as the one below, you perpetuate the myths propagated by prohibitionists. No valid study has linked cannabis to cancer, and several reputable studies have linked cannabis use with significantly reduced risk of cancer.
As the late Jim Rosenfield, a widely respected expert on the subject of cannabis, has pointed out, any claim of increased risk of cancer due to cannabis must be answered with a question- "Where are the bodies?" Who are these multitudes who are dying of marijuana? Is there one person, alive or dead, who can legitimately trace even a single case of cancer or any other disease to the use of cannabis? I think not.
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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.
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THC does not cause cancer in lab tests.
A federal study completed two years ago, shows that marijuana’s main ingredient THC does not cause cancer in lab animals.
The 126 page report, which has not been published even though it was found valid by a panel of experts in 1994.
The findings go against the contention by some federal officials that marijuana is carcinogenic. The results will likely add fuel to the debate over using marijuana for medicinal purposes.
According to the study, high doses of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) were put into the stomachs of mice and rats daily for two years and found absolutely no evidence of cancer.
The study was overseen by the Federal Drug Administration, National Cancer Institute, and other federal agencies.
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Scientific Study Shows Reduced Occurance of Cancer in Marijuana Users
One week into the new Millennium, I am hoping to share with you my enthusiasm over the two most important research articles completed on the subject of the long-term effects of cannabis use since the historic studies in Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Greece came out in the mid 70's. These classic studies were panned by officials because of the relatively low number of smokers included (who were reported to have healthy, productive lives). There were only 30 marijuana smokers and 30 controls in the famous Jamaican study (n = 60) - but it generated an inspiring book GANJA IN JAMAICA.
Now we finally have two studies that address two of the most important slanderous charges hurled at our favorite medicinal herb - that of causing brain damage and being very carcinogenic. This time the Cognition Preservation Data included over 1,318 people over 11.5 years and the Cancer Prevention Data is based on medical records from 65,171 people including 14,128 Current Marijuana Smokers and 12,771 Former Marijuana Smokers from 1979 to a mortality follow-up in 1991.
To read these historic articles, point your web browser to the CANNABIS RESEARCH LIBRARY at (http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/) Then click on the "Aging" button on the left or you can go directly to (http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/aging/lyketsos-01.pdf) to download a PDF version of the cognitive decline article and (http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/aging/sidney-01.pdf) to download the "Marijuana Use and Mortality" article from the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH.
I worked again on the two most important Tables from the above articles and had to shorten them to their basic facts to prevent them from being scrambled by e-mail. For posters and newsletters perhaps less is better.
"Marijuana Use and Mortality" AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH article from April 1997: (http://www.druglibrary.org/crl/aging/sidney-01.pdf)
CANCER PREVENTION DATA TABLE 2 Relative Risk of Death for Ever Users and Current Users of Marijuana, by Sex and Cause of Death: Kaiser Pemanente Medical Care Program Members (n = 65,171), Oakland and San Francisco, June 1979 through December 1985 - section of table regarding cancer (Neoplasms) as the cause of death:
MEN
Ever Users Relative Risk of Cancer Death
Full Model 0.78
Nonsmokers/ Occasional Drinkers 0.46
Current Users
Full Model 0.97
Nonsmokers/ Occasional Drinkers 0.75
WOMEN
Ever Users
Full Model 0.82
Nonsmokers/ Occasional Drinkers 0.70
Current Users
Full Model 0.86
Nonsmokers/ Occasional Drinkers 0.56
"Cannabis Use And Cognitive Decline In Persons Under 65 Years Of Age" AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, Vol. 149, No.9 pages 794-800, 1999
COGNITION PRESERVATION DATA TABLE 3. Mean change in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score between wave 2 (1982) end wave 3 (1993-1996) in men and women, by level of cannabis use, Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area study follow-up
Gender and level Mean score
of cannabis use Number change in MMSE
MEN
Nonusers 251 -1.00
Light users 104 -1.03
Light users & use of drugs 48 -1.06
Heavy users 82 -0.84
Heavy users & use of drugs 3 -0.33
WOMEN
Nonusers 555 -1.46
Light users 131 -1.04
Light users & use of drugs 83 -1.07
Heavy users 55 -1.15
Heavy users & use of drugs 8 -0.60
Here the negative numbers represent a loss of mental functioning. It occurs in all age groups as a natural function of aging and exposure to toxic substances - such as excessive alcohol or tobacco. However, we see less cognitive decline among marijuana smokers than nonusers of this controversial herb.
These Tables contain data so powerful - that they can really help turn around the drug war - and move us quickly on the way towards drug peace. Every day now, we loose thousands of battles in the war on drugs as new arrests and convictions for cannabis continue at an unprecedented rate. We should focus on bringing these important new findings to the attention of legislators, judges and juries considering cannabis laws and cases.
I called Stephen Sidney, MD, at the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, 3505 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611 on Jan. 4, and he confirmed that they found lower levels of cancer among the marijuana smokers when compared to their control group.
Dr. Sidney is the first author listed in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH article. After acknowledging that they found lower rates of cancer among both "Ever Users" and "Current Users" of marijuana - he said they did not mention it in the text because of the relatively wide 95% Confidence Intervals. He also confirmed that any Relative Risk less than 1.0 means a lowered risk of death compared to the Reference or control group. (Relative Risk values of greater than one would be expected from the false claims that marijuana is carcinogenic.)
Dr. Sydney also clarified my question regarding the lower values among the Nonsmokers (of tobacco)/Occasional Drinkers) group of marijuana smokers. These lower values of Relative Risk were calculated by comparing them to Nonusers/Experimenters who also did not smoke tobacco and did not consume excessive alcohol. This makes these lowered values much more important than if they were compared to the full group of Nonusers/Experimenters.)
Because tobacco is so carcinogenic, any studies attempting to measure the association between marijuana use and cancer must ignore those who smoke both tobacco and marijuana. It is unfortunate that the press has distorted the recent pilot study findings of the Zhang/Tashkin group to state "Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, study finds" as reported on CNN Dec. 17, 1999.
The real story, as uncovered by Chuck Thomas of MPP, is that they again found evidence of the Cancer Prevention Activity of Cannabinoids, as only 2 in the group of 173 head and neck cancer patients had only smoked marijuana - as compared to 5 of the 176 in their control group. This data is limited because of the relatively low number of people in these groups. Here n = 173 + 176 = 349. The Kaiser study is thus over 185 times larger with an n = 65,171.
Another related important article is ìAnticancer Activity of Cannabinoids concerning reduced growth of implanted lung cancer tumors in mice published the JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, Sept. 75. Here mice with implanted lung cancer tumors lived significantly longer than control animals, as tumor growth was inhibited by THC and other cannabinoids tested.
The two Tables included above bring good news from two outstanding research articles that have the last word in the actual effects of marijuana smoking because they collected data from 514 marijuana smokers in the cognition study and 26,899 marijuana smokers in the largest, most comprehensive study completed on the ultimate long-term effect - mortality - to date.
As with all such studies, there is a degree of uncertainty in their findings - which is expressed as the 95% confidence intervals included in these reports. Although opponents of drug policy reform will argue that they are too large to have much meaning, the observed decreases in Relative Risk associated with cancer deaths are all similar in value, with an increase in protection as they exclude tobacco smokers. This shows consistency in these findings for the 26,899 marijuana smokers included in the Kaiser study. | |
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