Study: Smoking Pot Doesn't Cause Cancer--It May Prevent It!

Counterpunch Weekend Edition
May 3 / 4, 2008
Study: Smoking Pot Doesn't Cause Cancer--It May Prevent It!
The Greatest Story Never Told
By FRED GARDNER

Smoking Cannabis Does Not Cause Cancer
Of Lung or Upper Airways, Tashkin Finds;
Data Suggest Possible Protective Effect

The story summarized by that headline ran in O'Shaughnessy's (Autumn 2005), CounterPunch, and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Did we win Pulitzers, dude? No, the story was ignored or buried by the corporate media. It didn't even make the "Project Censored" list of under-reported stories for 2005. "We were even censored by Project Censored," said Tod Mikuriya, who liked his shot of wry.

It's not that the subject is trivial. One in three Americans will be afflicted with cancer, we are told by the government (as if it's our immutable fate and somehow acceptable). Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and lung cancer the leading killer among cancers. You'd think it would have been very big news when UCLA medical school professor Donald Tashkin revealed that components of marijuana smoke -although they damage cells in respiratory tissue- somehow prevent them from becoming malignant. In other words, something in marijuana exerts an anti-cancer effect.

Tashkin has special credibility. He was the lead investigator on studies dating back to the 1970s that identified the components in marijuana smoke that are toxic. It was Tashkin et al who published photomicrographs showing that marijuana smoke damages cells lining the upper airways. It was the Tashkin lab reporting that benzpyrene -a component of tobacco smoke that plays a role in most lung cancers- is especially prevalent in marijuana smoke. It was Tashkin's data documenting that marijuana smokers are more likely than non-smokers to cough, wheeze, and produce sputum.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse supported Tashkin's marijuana-related research over the decades and readily gave him a grant to conduct a large, population-based, case-controlled study that would prove definitively that heavy, long-term marijuana use increases the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers. What Tashkin and his colleagues found, however, disproved their hypothesis. (Tashkin is to marijuana as a cause of lung cancer what Hans Blick is to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -an honest investigator who set out to find something, concluded that it wasn't there, and reported his results.

Please read the entire article at:
http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner05032008.html

BLISS!

In June of 2003, I was told I had inoperable, untreatable adenocarcinoma of the lung, stage four, and that my days were very limited.

I had smoked pot in the past, but anticipating increased pain and discomfort, I made sure I smoked even more than usual. And the cancer did not grow or spread. It has grown a littl since then, but still only a fraction of what was expected. And I'm still here.

I cannot prove anything nor am I advocating a particular opinion. I don't know enough to have one.

All I know is, in 2003, the doctors gave me 3 - 6 months to live and Mary Jane and I are about to celebrate our fifth anniversary.

Glad you're still with us and fighting the good fight.

Thanks for the post and peace and low stress.:patriot:

Wishing you and Mary many many more anniversaries. :hi:

and cocaine

From all the dope prisoners in the USA...a hugh Fuck You

The Three Stooges and finding them quite profound?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4F9tVOgtupQ">short video :hi:

I hadn't seen or heard about that video so that's all news to me!

:hi:

http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner07022005.html

Tashkin was the government researcher who was largely behind the claims of cancer in the first place so when this report came out I took notice of it. At the time few others took notice because it hadn't gained mainstream recognition. Took a year or so to get the mainstream news attention but it's info that's been out there for a while now. Never hurts to remind people though.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html

As someone who's cultivated, bought, smoked and sold for over 20 years I know only 2 people who don't mix their pot with tobacco.

This is also really old news - while corporate US media might not have ran heavilly with it, it is very well known within drug policy circles elsewhere, even if this author has a bit of a simplistic take on it.

We definitely travel in different circles, I don't know anyone that does that, 40 years

well either you smoke shithouse dry non sticky weed or you spend a lot of time re-lighting. Actually having seen what passes for marijuana in the US this doesn't sound so odd.

I can't figure where you are coming from

It's called "curing". You should learn about it.

"Shit-ass dry". Ha ha ha ha.

:rofl:

"Actually having seen what passes for marijuana in the US this doesn't sound so odd."

:rofl:

Are you from a European country?

Ever. As for the rest of your comment .... ummm....no. I doubt that's it.

I mix with tobacco (just a bit) because it helps my bud burn better, but I find smoking it pure tastes much better. When I went to Amsterdam, I gave a friend I met a toke off my joint and she was repulsed by the fact that I didn't mix in tobacco.

they roll it a cigar leaf or special flavored tobacco papers. I don't like it because I don't like the taste of cigars.

Blunts are typically marijuana wrapped in a cigar wrapper. Spliffs (at least as I know them) are tobacco and bud mixed together and rolled in a regular paper. Blunts usually get all their tobacco from the wrap alone.

Here we are talking ultra stank, organic, finest stuffs on the Earth. The best on Earth, I repeat, having traveled the world sampling. No one mixes, no one would. In fact, few roll at all.
Mixing tobacco with ganja in the US is simply not done. And for good reason. The habit of mixing into what is call 'spliff' in Europe comes from having only hash to use. In the Islands a spliff is also not mixed, and pure as Lamb's Bread.

a serviceman returned home and put tobacco in with his hash that he brought from Germany. I never smoked with him again.

I grew up in the 70's and was around plenty of pot, never heard of mixing it with tobacco until after I got involved in activism years later and I heard about them doing it in Australia. Never struck me as anything but a waste of good weed at best and a health hazard likely.

One of the medicinal advantages of pot is that it acts as a bronchial dilator which can be helpful for asthma and other conditions. Combine that with tobacco though and all you're doing is dilating those airways so the cancer causing tobacco smoke can penetrate deeper. If you're going to do both at least keep them separate, don't mix them.

Maybe it's spread more around the kids or more recently, can't say myself. Pot activists often annoy me so I don't hang around with them too much, too often they don't actually care about rights so much as their ability to get high. Allow them that and the rest of the drug war and all its damage can continue, they couldn't care less. Never heard of mixing it when I was around the stuff though.

it likely has more to do with the dry, leafy state of marijuana in the US. Almost impossible to get sticky buds lit without something dry mixed in with it.

I'm not around the stuff much these days, but that isn't the same as not at all. I've had the pleasure of seeing some Sourbubble first hand and it doesn't get a lot more sticky than that. Burned fine. Matter of fact it's downright flammable in a bowl, it's harder to keep it from staying lit like a candle than it is to keep it lit. Bubble hash can be the same way.

In a joint it might be different but that's a reason to learn to roll a looser, better one. Not for tobacco. Might as well save the money and buy dirtweed if you mix it.

you're assumption about my experience is WAY off base

You just have to let them dry out a bit. From my experience, mixing with tobacco is routine in Europe, but almost unheard of in the US, each regardless of quality.

Or so I've heard...O8)

but I'm guessing it's not Northern California. I'll match our shit against Canadian, Jamaican, or the Netherlands any day. Mixing joints with tobacco was popular with a few people when I lived in Humboldt, but overall it's a relatively rare thing around here. And trust me, there ain't nothin' wrong with our bud.

Oops, no Santa Rosa?

and went to Humboldt State. Santa Rosa has very good weed as well, though.

:hi:

grows medicinal weed up in Eureka which is apparently one of the bedrocks of their economy...along with shipping and tourism?

and I really want to see weed legalized. But the ironic thing is, if it did become legal, Humboldt's economy would be devastated. And corporations would simply move elsewhere to grow it. The Humboldt County I fell in love with would essentially cease to exist.

But nothing lasts forever, and the area will always remain one of the most beautiful on Earth. If you've never been up there then do yourself a favor and go. Some of the most awe-inspiring nature you'll ever see. Light up some of the native product, and have yourself a nice transcendental experience. Humboldt has a way about it, man. If you spend any serious time there, it will change you, and for the better if you let it.

So sayeth my friend. He has an ocean view but is not liking the locals. Believe it or not he's not a "hippy" at all and dislikes the culture. He's moving to Portland...I've been meaning to tell him that's probably not going to be any better for him.

a good bong hit of tobacco is overwhelming and should never be mixed in high amounts w/ your bud. around 10% is a good kicker. the tobacco basically hits you hard and plants your ass down and then the bud comes waltzin' in all ladylike afterwards. it's geared for a different travel; less patient, but also gives a nice continuity to the whole ride.

it's definitely not a waste of bud, because the tobacco's effect wears off rapidly, just about the time the weed starts to kick in. if you're used to nicotine you know how instantaneous the rush then mellow is in comparison. like the difference between sprinter and marathoner, mix to taste and enjoy. not for everyone though, and some people don't even like the flavored tobacco to spice up the ride. it's all about preference. overall though, it's not that common in america. a pity because it' not half bad.

not that i have ever done anything of the sort. i am wholesome and pure like the driven snow and aspire to be voted in as president of the united states... :smoke:

plenty of sticky-icky round these parts here! :smoke:

ETA: So I've heard. :hippie:

My friend, in a long and thoroughly disreputable life I am quite sure that I have sampled everything there is to sample, from Mexican dirt weed that crumbles to dust in your fingers to northern Cal sinsemilla so sticky it practically dripped. Never once said to myself "Dang, this stuff won't stay lit. Where's the tobacco?"

If it's THAT sticky you should be bonging it anyway. ;)

You say marijuana in the U.S. is in a dry leafy state. Not where I come from. No one would even buy leaf. I've never smoked it mixed with tobacco even though I smoke tobacco, lol. Must be a city thing.

Or maybe fodder for some butter or something.

But, that's news to me. I never mixed tobacco with pot back in the 60's and 70's.

Is this something that began to happen much more recently?

Your ignorance of the US pot-scene is a laugh riot!!!

The whole mixing pot w/tobacco is a European thing.

and since i mostly smoke out of a one-hit bong- "keeping it lit" isn't really an issue.
i've smoked weed for 30 years, and i've never used tobacco in any form- with or without pot.

It was and is, to try hid the smell on the streets vs using a pipe or organic, non interfering papers.

The using of tobacco papers has spread to the suburbs
as an accept cool thing to do. Until they cough their guts out, in their parents' home.

BLUNTS :smoke:

That man grew some outrageous weed. He called the really potent stuff "Medicinal Purposes" ganja. He cut tobacco into it and smoked it in a handmade clay pipe with a rolled up ball of tinfoil in it that he called a 'gritty'. He also had a piece of cotton cloth over the end you toked from. The best weed I ever smoked in my life came from him, grown right out in the Everglades..

Rock On, Coptic Bob...

PEACE!

Ghost

What a horrible thing to do to good pot! I've know some people who smoked lots of both, but never mixed together.

in the US everyone i know smokes "pure pot" in dried flower bud form. Of course everyone i know in Britain smokes hash... so they roll splifs.


Different culture...

:shrug:

he came back from Iceland and wanted to appear well-traveled. Everyone else I've known has smoke it pure.

i dont know why people do that.
im assuming people thought it masked the smell when they started the trend...

personally i think thats stupid. youre making a good thing way way bad by mixing it.
ive definitely had a couple of mixed 'cigarettes' in my younger days
but anybody who does that doesnt appreciate pot truly, sorry.

i ALWAYS smoke it without tobacco. in fact i stopped touching tobacco about 6-7 years ago completely. i was waking up feeling like crap and coughing all the time. hadta decide which smoke hadta go. decided the tobacco was such a useless thing, it only does bad things and heck it doesnt really make ya feel good... lol... so i picked the pot ;) havent been mad about it either ;)

Why ruin good smoke?

Do you mix vodka and Red Bull, too?

I've never known anyone to mix tobacco with weed. 40 years and smoking
you're shit'n us, right

Add: come to think of it there was a fellow recruit in boot that did mix pot and tobacco but he was also the guy who tied a board on a string and dragged it around like it was his pet dog, needless to say he didn't last long in the navy there.

I've heard of mixing it with hashish. And sometimes resin, but tobacco? No.

edit: I hate tobacco, so mixing it is out the question. Besides, with good stuff, you only need a couple of hits, you don't smoke it constantly like a cigarette.

As someone who has smoked fairly heavily for 35 years, living in cities all over the United States, I have NEVER met ONE single person who mixed their weed with tobacco. Not one, at any time, at any place. Just a data point for ya. ;)

wild...

I've seen kids smoke blunts (pot in a cigar wrap)...

:crazy:

Here in the midwest nobody mixes their pot with tobacco.

mix it.

you couldn't smoke a joint w/o tobacco or you
would go into full paranoid catatonia.

ya made my keyboard all drooly...wasn't expecting the pic.

flashback...the 70's...
or what I remember of them.

the lethal dose for marijuana is so great, that you literally could not smoke yourself to death.

Pot Houses! :hi:

after about a week there would be huge gaping holes in the walls.

you stoner! :spank:

it works, but I only use when my day is done.
The feds closed all the legal clinics around me
within 100 miles and that makes it tough


So, I appreciate the thread.

:nuke:

Bet you also think we should pull our troops out of Iraq now that everything is going our way!

:)

SURELY we must keep at least one war going!

Independence Day Weekend Edition
July 2 / 4, 2005

Pot Shots
Study: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
By FRED GARDNER

Here's the link to the original article:
http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner07022005.html

We got dizzy inhaling thought it was fun.

already.

It seems like everyday some new study states it's effectiveness,and safety.

My question is this:What new claim will they come up with tomorrow to continue to villify marijuana?

I know!..If you smoke marijuana,there is a significant chance that your children will be born naked!

that claimed MJ causes lung cancer. But nary a peep from them about this much larger study showing just the opposite.

In the book by Jack Herer he talks about it some, chapter on busting http://www.jackherer.com/chapter15.html">drug war myths, but the doctor who did this study was also one of the main voices behind the cancer scare. He just debunked his own theory and he's been the nations leading lung researcher in the subject for decades. The problem stemmed from more than one small study.

The problem was more that pot and tobacco have certain constituents in common which are thought to be related to cancer so the obvious conclusion drawn was that pot must cause it, or at least there seemed to be a causal link. Over the years he never wavered in that belief but he remained enough of a scientist to wonder why it never seemed to be born out in the results. So he checked, did the largest study yet and got the results mentioned in the report above.

One of the big differences between tobacco and pot is radioactivity, it's the single constituent of tobacco I know of which has been shown to cause cancer on its own. Pot has none. Probably related at least some to how it's grown and fertilized from what I understand, US tobacco is worse than many. Another difference seems to be the contraceptive effect of the thc, Tashkin didn't claim it to be proved in his more recent study but he did grant that the slight negative correlation between cancer and pot only smokers might indicate something more solid. Other studies with cancer tissue tested in lab conditions seem to show similar results.

Even if not contraceptive the positive link to cancer seems dead and I think there's a decent case for research on prevention or treatment as well, at least in lab conditions. If high concentrations or direct to the area applications are needed that might be hard to do with casual use especially with some conditions.

never heard that before

oh wait, you mean prophylactic?

It's late, the pot debate isn't really my thing so I don't keep up on the terms they prefer. Most of my debating is about the larger issues such as prison, racial balance, how we got here and how to get out.

Pot is relevant to other things I do and comes up often enough that I'm pretty aware of the history and research, but I can't say I care to debate the issue most of the time since there's normally others around who care more so I'm a bit out of practice :shrug: Tashkin interests me though and so does the history of the drug war in general.

that relieves the symptoms of IBS. For those of you who don't know about it, Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a devastating condition for a lot of folk out there. I used to suffer from cramps and spasms so debilitating that i couldn't walk on some days. Since i started smoking MJ regularly i very rarely have attacks and they are MUCH milder in form. More like firm pressure on my stomach than sharp piercing pain.

It is one of the few medications i use for pain...


(though i had oral surgery yesterday and Vicodin is helping me out right now)

:)

Little wonder authoritarians and uptighty righties of all shades frown upon it.

We get healing. Pot gets dispersion.

I didn't mean that. I meant to emphasize the two-way nature of it, that's all.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

which has been very effective in stopping the poor from voting

But it did help her maintain her appetite with the chemotherapy.

:smoke:

back in my medical days..he was a friend of mine...believe me..fungus in lungs is not fun

I vivedly remember blogging about it.

uh....so I have heard....yeah...I heard that somewhere.

see "race from the cure the rick simpson story" on youtube. (sorry my kids aren't here to help me post this link).
I've known of the pain relieving properties of pot for a long time, but this video series really blew me away.

Not a single "uhhh, what were talking about? Pass me the doritos" post.

It's almost as if regular people are beginning to see pot smokers as, well, regular people!

They've made a poison legal(cigarettes) and the cure(pot) illegal!? :banghead:

That's pretty much it.

and the War on Cancer --- another fantastic profit making center --- !!!

use one of these:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporizer">Vaporizer

n/t

Pass the bong dude