6 ms·

For those purposes, do you know how smoking marijuana maps to smoking cigarette? E.g. is 1 "dose" of pot = 1 cigarette? 10 cigarettes? Or does it not map at all

by GuiA 12y ago

For those purposes, do you know how smoking marijuana maps to smoking cigarette? E.g. is 1 "dose" of pot = 1 cigarette? 10 cigarettes? Or does it not map at all? What about electronic cigarettes?

kazinator 12y ago
Also: "Marijuana may cause low blood pressure". [Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/marijuana/safety/hrb-20059701 http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/marijuana/safety...] And, of course, blood pressure is one of the four numbers.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  I think that the main cause of heart attacks is high blood pressure. Therefore smoking weed might be beneficial for people with heart attack risks. (However if someone already have low blood pressure it might be dangerous for them)
pragone 12y ago
Pot itself has no known health detriments. Smoking marihuana, however, does impart some of the risks of smoking, but not nearly the same. I don't know if it's possible to reach the same level of damage to your lungs with pot as you would with cigarettes.
- hackuser 12y ago
  > Smoking marihuana, however, does impart some of the risks of smoking, but not nearly the same. I don't know if it's possible to reach the same level of damage to your lungs with pot as you would with cigarettes. Why not? Also, aren't marijuana cigarettes unfiltered, unlike tobacco?
  - AlecSchueler 12y ago
    The filters wouldn't make a difference here, since it's the toxins rather than the temperature doing the damage.
    - hackuser 12y ago
      > The filters wouldn't make a difference here, since it's the toxins rather than the temperature doing the damage. I'm confused by the answer: Cigarette filters don't filter toxins? And they do reduce temperature?
      - pragone 12y ago
        The toxins in cigarettes are the danger. Filters do little to stop the damage caused by toxins in cigarettes that simply don't exist in marijuana.
- DanBC 12y ago
  > Pot itself has no known health detriments You can't say this. There's a possibility that cannabis causes mental health problems in some people who don't have underlying disease. There's a stronger possibility that cannabis triggers mental illness in people who do have underlying disease but who would not otherwise have had an episode. It is irresponsible to suggest that cannabis is harm free. People like you do great harm to campaigns that aim to legalise drugs. Please stop.
  - pragone 12y ago
    Your response has the same logic that living gives you cancer. In all my years of medicine I have not seen this clear link you establish between mental illness and marijuana. I'd be very interested in learning more about it, if you have some resources for me to look at it. I did not suggest that cannabis is harm free. I stated we cannot explicitly identified marijuana as the cause of illness. How am I doing "great harm" to campaigns aiming to legalize drugs? (That's an honest question, I'm not quite processing your viewpoint on my argument, and am actually interested in your response.)
    - DanBC 12y ago
      > I did not suggest that cannabis is harm free. I stated we cannot explicitly identified marijuana as the cause of illness. Yes you did - using phrases like "there are no known health risks" you dismiss all the evidence we have that cannabis can cause harm. Here's just one link, but there are many other reputable sources. This one discusses lung health. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/06june/Pages/cannabis-lung-health-risks-underestimated.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/06june/Pages/cannabis-lung-healt... > The report says that the constituents of cannabis smoke are similar to those of tobacco smoke apart from the presence of THC (which is only in cannabis) or nicotine (which is only in tobacco). This means that cannabis smoke has the same carcinogens (substances that cause cancer) as tobacco smoke, although concentrations of these may be up to 50% higher. Like tobacco, cannabis also contains toxic carbon monoxide Saying that this is equivalent to "no known health risks" is intellectually dishonest.
      - 12y ago
- adventured 12y ago
  In fact smoking marijuana causes extremely harmful effects in the brain: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/marijuana-users-have-abnormal-brain-structure--poor-memory.html http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/marij... "Teens who were heavy marijuana users -- smoking it daily for about three years -- had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study." "The brain abnormalities and memory problems were observed during the individuals’ early twenties, two years after they stopped smoking marijuana, which could indicate the long-term effects of chronic use. Memory-related structures in their brains appeared to shrink and collapse inward, possibly reflecting a decrease in neurons."
doctorCoder 12y ago
Real life doctor here. Your question sounds simple, but the answer is complex. The heart disease risk from smoking probably stems from damage to blood vessels caused by toxins generated in the tobacco burning. "Toxins" is really the best word here, even though it's so general. I use it to encompass thousands of different chemicals like free radicals, known carcinogens, etc. Current thinking is the body repairs that damage with clots and cholesterol. But, these repairs accumulate over time to occlude a blood vessel (atherosclerosis). If red blood cells can't get through, oxygen can't either, and heart cells downstream to the occlusion will die in minutes to hours. Marijuana most likely generates a significant amount of toxins as well. However, marijuana smokers generally smoke less than cigarette smokers. Given that heart disease and cancer risk increases with the amount smoked, it would be reasonable to assume marijuana smokers are much less at risk (though the risk is nonzero). But, we don't have a clear conversion between marijuana and cigarette smoke yet. You may also consider that marijuana may be contaminated with other plants or chemicals. Electronic cigarettes are possibly more safe than non-e cigarettes in terms of cancer risk (this is theoretical as no significant study has been done yet). However, some in vitro (cellular) research suggests nicotine may play a role in atherosclerosis discussed above. Also, nicotine can precipitate a heart attack if a heart is already diseased.
- markdown 12y ago
  > free radicals Are these are thing again? I was under the impression that it was 80's nonsense that's been debunked.
  - hbhakhra 12y ago
    Free radicals are parts of a chemical structure that are unpaired and therefore super reactive. The reason they are linked to cancer is they can easily form bonds with molecules that they shouldn't be bonding with and cause crazy things to happen. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(chemistry) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(chemistry) for more detail
- beachstartup 12y ago
  > Current thinking is the body repairs that damage with clots and cholesterol does this imply that if there's very little damage (due to inflammation or substance abuse) elevated cholesterol doesn't really matter?

by GuiA 12y ago

For those purposes, do you know how smoking marijuana maps to smoking cigarette? E.g. is 1 "dose" of pot = 1 cigarette? 10 cigarettes? Or does it not map at all? What about electronic cigarettes?

kazinator 12y ago

Also: "Marijuana may cause low blood pressure". [Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/marijuana/safety/hrb-20059701 http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/marijuana/safety...] And, of course, blood pressure is one of the four numbers.

guard-of-terra 12y ago
I think that the main cause of heart attacks is high blood pressure. Therefore smoking weed might be beneficial for people with heart attack risks. (However if someone already have low blood pressure it might be dangerous for them)

pragone 12y ago

Pot itself has no known health detriments. Smoking marihuana, however, does impart some of the risks of smoking, but not nearly the same. I don't know if it's possible to reach the same level of damage to your lungs with pot as you would with cigarettes.

hackuser 12y ago
> Smoking marihuana, however, does impart some of the risks of smoking, but not nearly the same. I don't know if it's possible to reach the same level of damage to your lungs with pot as you would with cigarettes. Why not? Also, aren't marijuana cigarettes unfiltered, unlike tobacco?
- AlecSchueler 12y ago
  The filters wouldn't make a difference here, since it's the toxins rather than the temperature doing the damage.
  - hackuser 12y ago
    > The filters wouldn't make a difference here, since it's the toxins rather than the temperature doing the damage. I'm confused by the answer: Cigarette filters don't filter toxins? And they do reduce temperature?
    - pragone 12y ago
      The toxins in cigarettes are the danger. Filters do little to stop the damage caused by toxins in cigarettes that simply don't exist in marijuana.
DanBC 12y ago
> Pot itself has no known health detriments You can't say this. There's a possibility that cannabis causes mental health problems in some people who don't have underlying disease. There's a stronger possibility that cannabis triggers mental illness in people who do have underlying disease but who would not otherwise have had an episode. It is irresponsible to suggest that cannabis is harm free. People like you do great harm to campaigns that aim to legalise drugs. Please stop.
- pragone 12y ago
  Your response has the same logic that living gives you cancer. In all my years of medicine I have not seen this clear link you establish between mental illness and marijuana. I'd be very interested in learning more about it, if you have some resources for me to look at it. I did not suggest that cannabis is harm free. I stated we cannot explicitly identified marijuana as the cause of illness. How am I doing "great harm" to campaigns aiming to legalize drugs? (That's an honest question, I'm not quite processing your viewpoint on my argument, and am actually interested in your response.)
  - DanBC 12y ago
    > I did not suggest that cannabis is harm free. I stated we cannot explicitly identified marijuana as the cause of illness. Yes you did - using phrases like "there are no known health risks" you dismiss all the evidence we have that cannabis can cause harm. Here's just one link, but there are many other reputable sources. This one discusses lung health. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/06june/Pages/cannabis-lung-health-risks-underestimated.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/06june/Pages/cannabis-lung-healt... > The report says that the constituents of cannabis smoke are similar to those of tobacco smoke apart from the presence of THC (which is only in cannabis) or nicotine (which is only in tobacco). This means that cannabis smoke has the same carcinogens (substances that cause cancer) as tobacco smoke, although concentrations of these may be up to 50% higher. Like tobacco, cannabis also contains toxic carbon monoxide Saying that this is equivalent to "no known health risks" is intellectually dishonest.
    - 12y ago
adventured 12y ago
In fact smoking marijuana causes extremely harmful effects in the brain: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/marijuana-users-have-abnormal-brain-structure--poor-memory.html http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/marij... "Teens who were heavy marijuana users -- smoking it daily for about three years -- had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine® study." "The brain abnormalities and memory problems were observed during the individuals’ early twenties, two years after they stopped smoking marijuana, which could indicate the long-term effects of chronic use. Memory-related structures in their brains appeared to shrink and collapse inward, possibly reflecting a decrease in neurons."

doctorCoder 12y ago

Real life doctor here. Your question sounds simple, but the answer is complex. The heart disease risk from smoking probably stems from damage to blood vessels caused by toxins generated in the tobacco burning. "Toxins" is really the best word here, even though it's so general. I use it to encompass thousands of different chemicals like free radicals, known carcinogens, etc. Current thinking is the body repairs that damage with clots and cholesterol. But, these repairs accumulate over time to occlude a blood vessel (atherosclerosis). If red blood cells can't get through, oxygen can't either, and heart cells downstream to the occlusion will die in minutes to hours. Marijuana most likely generates a significant amount of toxins as well. However, marijuana smokers generally smoke less than cigarette smokers. Given that heart disease and cancer risk increases with the amount smoked, it would be reasonable to assume marijuana smokers are much less at risk (though the risk is nonzero). But, we don't have a clear conversion between marijuana and cigarette smoke yet. You may also consider that marijuana may be contaminated with other plants or chemicals. Electronic cigarettes are possibly more safe than non-e cigarettes in terms of cancer risk (this is theoretical as no significant study has been done yet). However, some in vitro (cellular) research suggests nicotine may play a role in atherosclerosis discussed above. Also, nicotine can precipitate a heart attack if a heart is already diseased.

markdown 12y ago
> free radicals Are these are thing again? I was under the impression that it was 80's nonsense that's been debunked.
- hbhakhra 12y ago
  Free radicals are parts of a chemical structure that are unpaired and therefore super reactive. The reason they are linked to cancer is they can easily form bonds with molecules that they shouldn't be bonding with and cause crazy things to happen. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(chemistry) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(chemistry) for more detail
beachstartup 12y ago
> Current thinking is the body repairs that damage with clots and cholesterol does this imply that if there's very little damage (due to inflammation or substance abuse) elevated cholesterol doesn't really matter?