Marijuana study

U.K. Study Confirms Marijuana is Dangerous
By Bob Kellogg

SUMMARY: British scientists speak out on the dangers of pot.

A British report confirms that smoking marijuana is dangerous and that the health risks are far greater than smoking cigarettes. The report comes as the United Kingdom debates whether to declassify marijuana as a drug. The report, titled "A Smoking Gun?", was a compilation of decades of marijuana studies from several countries. "This really is quite a sizeable problem," said Dame Helena Shovelton, the head of the British Lung Foundation, which published the study. "We realized that nobody had been saying this before, so we felt we needed to get this message out to everybody."

Smoking marijuana has always come with risks, but the report shows the dangers are growing. "Cannabis cigarettes today are much stronger than they were in the past - in the '60s and '70s - because production of cannabis has been improved," Shovelton said.

Hillary McQuie, who represents Americans for Safe Access, which supports the use of "medical marijuana," was uncomfortable commenting on the report. "We're not scientists, we're not doctors," McQuie said. "The recent report that you've cited from London, suggesting that smoking marijuana can hurt the lungs, that would really be a matter of a doctor and a patient to figure out."

Shovelton, meantime, was alarmed at another recent British study that shows 79% of young people think pot smoking is safe. "We're seeing evidence (of) cancers (of the tongue and larynx) in young people ... that have been linked to cannabis," Shovelton said. "So all of these things together make us feel that really people ought to be taking this very seriously, indeed." Shovelton said when marijuana smoking is mixed with tobacco use, the effects dramatically worsen.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: To view a news release on the study and a copy of the study itself online, please see the British Lung Association Web site: http://www.britishlungfoundation.com/news/