• Question: is weed healther than smoking?

    Asked by emilywhittallwh to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      No, it is not. It is an urban myth. Any leaf that is smoked will contain carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals, either because they are present in the leaf anyway, or because you are burining it — inhaling any burning organic matter will be very bad for you, nomatter what it is!

      There is also a lot of evidence that smoking pot can have a devastating effect on people’s mental health – it can lead to schizophrenia, panic attacks and anxiety, and other problems. Not to mention that it often make people very lazy and boring. Sudden cardiac death is also sometimes reported, where the heart will just stop beating.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Definitely not – smoking anything is bad for your health unless it’s salmon.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      There was a study a few years ago in America which found that whereas cigarette-smokers were at 20 times higher risk of lung cancer than non-smokers, this was not the case for heavy marijuana users. However, as Ian says, there are also a lot of harmful effects of cannabis, both on mental health and on the heart and respiratory system. Smoking cannabis also usually involves inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke for longer in the lungs, which means more tar is deposited. The problem with proving which is healthier (or rather, which is less unhealthy!) is that cannabis smoking is relatively new compared to tobacco, and it has changed a lot in the last 20 years. So we haven’t gathered enough useful information about it yet. Also, people who smoke cannabis tend to mix it with tobacco too, so in some cases it’s not clear which substance is causing the harm. As we all know, in the words of Mr Mackey, drugs are bad m’kay.

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