One joint equals about 20 cigarettes

Posted on Jan 30th 2008 12:00PM by Adams Briscoe

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment

During high school, I remember hearing kids say they would rather smoke marijuana than cigarettes because they considered pot "more natural." Apparently they thought a Native American peace pipe was comparable to a bong. At any rate, anyone smoking pot under this notion is in for a surprise. New studies indicate that smoking marijuana is much worse.

In fact, someone would have to smoke twenty cigarettes to get the equivalent damage that a single joint would cause. A team of researchers found out that individuals who smoke cannabis have five times the amount of carbon monoxide in their blood compared to those lighting up tobacco!

Not only that, but the concentration of carcinogens is significantly greater in weed as well. Because of this, research indicates marijuana damages the airways more than traditional cigarettes. These may come across as a bunch of reasons to ditch smoking weed as a deviant practice, but what about patients using medicinal marijuana? As we all know, pot in a controlled medical application sparks a lot of conversation. However, given these reasons, doctors may need to reconsider this treatment.

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Tags: cancer, cigarettes, joint, lung, marijuana, pot, smoking

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Liz Christmas 1-31-2008 @ 11:57AM

Well I'm not sure I agree with this new information. Look at the damage cigarettes do every minute someone lights up, and the health issues that are now being addressed. More people die each year from cigarett smoking then pot smoking. Personally I would like to see pot legalized and cigarettes illlegal, then let's look at the statistics on issues like crime, health, and general well being of people who take part in studied that are for medical marijuana.

Tim 1-31-2008 @ 3:33AM

Of course more people die from cigarettes than pot. Look at the number of users for each product and their consumption habits.

Cigarettes are on their way to illegal status but pot won't be legal anytime soon, if at all.

The best part about pot, unlike cigarettes, is that smoking it isn't the only way to use the product. Brownies anyone?

Peace!

laprns 2-04-2008 @ 8:51PM

I can't imagine just sitting watching television or crawling the mall at my age. So many losers I went to high school with are still living with their parents, doing nothing but smoking marijuana. IT kills you just as fast as cigarettes, you are just too f%^&d up to notice.

cattylady 2-04-2008 @ 9:22PM

well, my opinion... cigarette smoking does not change the way a person acts...pot does. pot is a chemical(s) that supposedly makes a person feel happy, relaxed, overly hungry, whatever. it's like alcohol or any other illegal drug, it messes with your brain (mind). too much pot can probably cause accidents like alcohol or other drugs can...cigarette smoking doesn't even though people like to say it does. a cigarette smoker is stone sober, has all of their wits about them when driving, working with heavy equipment, on high ladders, up on roofs, etc. pot, other illegal drugs, and prescription drugs warn you not to do certain things when it's in your system...dizziness, etc. ya know? cigarette smoking does not encourage one to drink alcohol or smoke or use something stronger. however, pot tends to encourage people to try the harder drugs when it no longer gives the high like their original one did. pot leads to cocaine, crack, meth, heroin, and whatever other crap is out there. i've smoked cigs for eons and i still don't drink alcohol....nor have i ever wanted to "try" other drugs....nor have i ever gotten in an accident due to it either. cigarette smoking does not change a personality...but using pot, other drugs, or alcohol does. i don't think i need to say much more here, pot is not as innocent of a drug as pothead's want you to believe it is. face the music of life, live it stone sober, and if you must have a chemical in your body, pick up a regular cigarette and start puffing...this is the safest way to go.

cattylady 2-04-2008 @ 9:42PM

eh...forgot to mention this. true, lung's of a cigarette smoker can turn black after years and years of heavy smoking...but did you know that when pot is smoked, the residue that's left in the lungs is much more and it falls to the bottom of the lungs and will never ever get back out? cigarette smoker's lungs will turn back to their origianal flesh color in just a few years after stopping....but the lung's of a pot smoker will still have the black tar-like crud stuck in the bottom of their lungs until they die. oh yeah, forgot to tell ya that it's like thick tar, the stuff they stick on roofs and on roads, etc. nope, ya can't hack that crud up and out nor can your lungs break it down and absorb it either. it just lays there in a puddle forever...sorta like how plastic never biodegrades. lovely, huh? actually, i do smoke but never drag deep into my lungs...always just a wee puff in and a big puff of air out. bet my lung's are still pretty clean looking even though i've smoked for eons. oh, to the one that said that more cigarette smoker's die than pot smokers. you can't get real stats on that and you know it. a very large number of pot smoker's turned to the harder drugs and died on them...pot led them to using the hard crap. so, i believe you need to add all drug addict's deaths and then lay it alongside cigarette smoker's deaths. bet ya the drug addict's is much higher and even if it isn't, one only has to use a hard drug once after switiching from pot, to die. meanwhile, it takes years and years and years for cigarette smoking to cause the death of someone. please don't try to color the pot smoking picture too pretty. it ain't and you know it ain't.

Emcee 2-04-2008 @ 11:22PM

wow. Thats a bunch of bullshit. The D.E.A is just trying to get people to stop smoking weed. I have yet to see someone develop serious health conditons from smoking weed.

aerosmithlover 2-05-2008 @ 1:49AM

I'm skeptical of this "new" info on pot. Every so often we hear more negative info on pot. I'm 59 yrs. old (female) & have smoked pot for 41 yrs. I don't smoke heavily & I haven't gone onto hard drugs. I have an annual physical (an extensive one) and my lungs are just fine. I'm married & have raised 4 kids into 4 great, responsible adults. Smoking pot did not render me sterile, nor did I have trouble conceiving as we're always being told (I conceived and gave birth in my mid to late 30's) I've worked, volunteered, contributed to society in a positive way.

My own personal physician, who by the way is a well-known oncologist in the Boston area (cancer doctor) is NOT concerned with my smoking pot. He IS, however, concerned with any and all cigarette smoking. This is coming from a doctor who sees people die from smoking cigarettes. Having quit smoking cigarettes 38 yrs. ago and never smoked since, I do not have to worry about this. Unfortunately, our government loves to feed us "information" from time to time. I have many friends and relatives who have smoked as long as I have. There has not been ONE...not ONE, who has any lung problem, or any health problem for that matter, due to pot smoking There has not been ONE...not ONE, death due to pot smoking.

Our government and the pharmaceutical companies who pump big bucks into our government have been feeding us these misrepresented "info bulletins" for years. They'd rather we get hooked on Oxycontin than smoke pot because there's money to be made by the pharmaceutical companies. This is the same Oxycontin that our youth is hooked on. The same Oxycontin that higher-ups within the Justice Department appeared initially to favor a less aggressive approach to the case against OxyContin’s producer, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn.

Instead there were plea agreements, under which Purdue Pharma and the three present and former executives agreed to pay $634.5 million to settle charges related to deceiving doctors about the abuse potential of OxyContin. Because federal prosecutors did not recommend jail time for the executives involved, the Purdue Pharma plea deals have been criticized by some drug industry specialists as well as parents of young people who died in OxyContin-related overdoses. Just do a search on this & you will find it's true. While you're at it...see how Rudy Guiliani was involved. So as far as this OLD "new" information, they can put it in their pipe & smoke it.

I love my country...it's my government I fear.

aerosmithlover 2-05-2008 @ 2:48AM

CATTYLADY said...
"well, my opinion... cigarette smoking does not change the way a person acts..."

Gee Cattylady, can you spell c-i-g-a-r-e-t-t-e s-m-o-k-i-n-g a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n ? When you can't stop smoking, you have no control, hence you have change the way you act. The cigarettes are controlling the way you act since you can't quit.

CATTYLADY said....."the lung's of a pot smoker will still have the black tar-like crud stuck in the bottom of their lungs until they die. oh yeah, forgot to tell ya that it's like thick tar, the stuff they stick on roofs and on roads, etc."

Gee Cattylady, I just had to check this one out with my oncologist & he said NOT TRUE, TOTALLY FALSE. I think you must be writing fairytales.

CATTYLADY said...."actually, i do smoke but never drag deep into my lungs...always just a wee puff in and a big puff of air out. bet my lung's are still pretty clean looking even though i've smoked for eons."

Gee Cattylady, do you really believe that your lungs are pretty clean after smoking for "eons"? Having had my lungs checked out every 2 years at my annual physical, I can say that my lungs are just fine...clean and clear. At least I'm responsible enough to care if pot smoking is damaging my lungs. Thankfully, I don't have any lung problem, or any of that fairytale "tar" stuff you've spoken of. When was the last time you had your lungs checked out. I have to say that I really got a huge laugh out of that statement...my laugh of the day.

I, also, do not drink any alcohol. However, I don't have a problem with those who do unless they are obnoxious drunks. I also do not have a problem with those who chose to smoke cigarettes....to each his own. I do have a problem with cigarette smokers who slam pot smokers with ridiculous, unsubstantiated remarks like yours.

And in anticipation of those of you who would say that I'm addicted to pot, there have been many, many times that I have refrained from smoking pot. These times include the months preceeding my pregnancies, and during the entire pregnancies themselves. I have never, ever smoked during any of my pregnancies. I smoke pot because it relaxes me and for no other reason. Probably the same reason many smoke cigarettes. I can go for days or weeks without smoking pot if I chose. Somehow I doubt that Cattylady can say the same about her "eons" of cigarette smoking.