Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic
‘More people are using the cannabis plant as modern basic and clinical science reaffirms and extends its medicinal uses. Concomitantly, concern and opposition to smoked medicine has occurred, in part due to the known carcinogenic consequences of smoking tobacco. Are these reactions justified? While chemically very similar, there are fundamental differences in the pharmacological properties between cannabis and tobacco smoke. Cannabis smoke contains cannabinoids whereas tobacco smoke contains nicotine. Available scientific data, that examines the carcinogenic properties of inhaling smoke and its biological consequences, suggests reasons why tobacco smoke, but not cannabis smoke, may result in lung cancer.’
July 15th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
um.. its not the chemicals, its the smoke itself bud. hydrocarbons, not nicotine or cannabinoids, cause cancer.
July 28th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
rk, it says quite clearly that there are pharmacological differences between the smokes generated.
The full article after the link explain it in more detail. Yes, any smoke will generate polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The different chemicals in the cannabis smoke mitigate the effects of the pro-carcinogens to a greater extent than anything in tobacco. Infact, the chemicals in tobacco apparently enhance the pro-carcinogenic effect.
July 17th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Health is wealth.. we must take care of our health..
November 13th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Cannabis which is grown properly without artificial stimulants and growth hormones would not cause cancer even if you smoked pot all day every day. Now you might develope some other symptoms that are common among nicotine smokers such as yellow teeth and a nasty cough but still to this date there has never been a confirmed death resulting from long term use of marijuana. Just grow your own and stay away from poorly grown plants that most likely have been sprayed with pesticides and god knows what else.