A recent study has found that marijuana smokers may develop bullous lung disease 24 years earlier than tobacco smokers. Bullous lung disease, a.k.a. bullae, is when air trapped in the lungs leads to obstruction of breathing and eventual destruction of the lungs, caused by long-term exposure to toxic chemicals. Furthermore, it can go undetected, as the disease may not show up on normal X-rays, a proper diagnosis requiring a high-resolution CT scans. With the 10% young adults and 1% adults smoking weed regularly, the mean age for lung problems was 41, opposed to 65 for tobacco smokers. Dr. Matthew Naughton, lead author, says this is because "marijuana is inhalaed as extremely hot fumes to the peak inspiration and held for as long as possible before slow exhalation. This predisposes to greater damage to the lungs and makes marijuana smokers more prone to bullous disease." Granted, most marijuana smokers usually also smoke cigarettes, which in some ways deserve the title of gateway drug more than pot, the previous findings that doobies have tar levels seven times higher than stogies now have support in medical statistics.

Another recent study study has found that, in terms of lung cancer, smoking one joint is equal to a normal 20-pack of cigarettes (in Europe 10 and 30-packs are pretty common). The researchers interviewed 79 lung cancer patients to find that cancer risk rose 5.7x for those who smoked than a joint a day for 10 years, or two joints a day for 5 years, after adjusting for other variables like tobacco smoking. According to Richard Beasley, team leader, "Cannabis smokers end up with five times more carbon monoxide in their bloodstream (than tobacco smokers)." The main obstacle, in regard to health, but for public policy as well, seems to be that the most popular method marijuana drug delivery is still smoking, be it bowl, bong or blunt. Unfortunately, inhaling smoke is never healthy, otherwise we would live on the sun. Thus, it may be wise to invest in a vaporizer, which greatly reduces the levels of particulate matter like tar and noxious gasses like carbon monoxide and are relatively affordable online. Alternatively, bake magic brownies or make kookie cookies, many recipes are available in print and on the web. There is also the option of leaching marijuana in high-proof alcohol, to brew so-called Green Dragon. All three methods keep the lungs healthy and pink while still allowing people to benefit from the positive effects of marijuana. Mens sana in corpore sano.

Marijuana Smokers Face Rapid Lung Destruction — As Much As 20 Years Ahead Of Tobacco Smokers, ScienceDaily.com
Smoking One Joint is Equivalent to 20 Cigarettes, Study Says, FoxNews.com

The 2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference was recently held in London (May 1-2) and has ignited much controversy about marijuana leading to psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia. But behind all the smoke, the broad claims and scary titles, many of the articles focus on only two studies: D’Souza’s on THC and schizophrenia and McGuire’s MRI scans of the brain. Without going into the details of their experiments, let’s just look at what they claim to have found.

These are the symptoms of schizophrenia discovered by Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza:

"Δ-9-THC produced schizophrenia-like positive and negative symptoms, altered perception, increased anxiety, produced euphoria, disrupted immediate and delayed word recall, impaired performance on tests of attention and working memory without impairing orientation."

What this looks like is a list of positive and negative symptoms of getting high. Altered perception can be said of many substances, without it having to be psychotic. Increased anxiety often comes with altered perception, since some people get worried when everything looks unfamiliar. It seems absurd to classify euphoria as a sign of madness. Meanwhile, impairment of attention and working memory comes hand in hand with most intoxicants, including alcohol. The study reports that these symptoms get more severe in people already diagnosed with schizophrenia, but if those are the symptoms being searched for, it seems essentially like saying that schizophrenic people get high too.

The results from Prof. Philip McGuire scans:

"THC attenuated [weakened] activation in the left temporal cortex compared to placebo… THC attenuated activation in the right inferior frontal cortex and its effect in this region predicted the severity of psychotic symptoms induced by THC. THC attenuated activation in the auditory cortex while subjects listened to speech."

Now, it’s well known that weed effects the auditory cortex, that’s why so many musicians smoke and so many smokers like to listen to music while high. The weakened auditory cortex while listening to speech is likely tied to the weakened left temporal cortex, which is responsible for sentence formation. Being high, similar to other types of intoxication, can make it hard to concentrate on long stories and sometimes you forget to finish your, what was I saying? The scan, in this case, backs up what could be easily hypothesized from the symptoms with a rudimentary knowledge of neurology. Meanwhile, the weakened activation of the right inferior frontal cortex, the region associated with face recognition, thus also with the ability to read emotions and acting appropriately in social situations, is just a part of a body of other visual hallucinations/attenuations, the most desired aspect for most users, and is what understandably accounts for the paranoia and general whackiness often experienced by smokers. Linking it with schizophrenia, which only recently has been connected to impaired face recognition, is tentative at best. So, much of the recent press on the matter seems to have blown a few carefully worded findings way out of proportion. Smoking weed does not make you schizophrenic, just because being high is kind of similar to it.

2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference: Programme and Abstract book [pdf]

According to a new study circulated in major newspapers, marijuana is America’s leading cash crop, with estimated production of $35.8 billion, surpassing corn ($23 bil), soy ($17.6 bil) and hay ($12.2 bil). The report was written by Jon Gettman, PhD, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and cites figures from the 2005 State Department report, which estimates the country’s weed production at 10,000 metric tons (22 mil+ pounds), ten times that in 1981. California has the state lead in growing over a third of the nation’s harvest (38%) and has 3.3 million users (13% of the nation’s smokers). Most of this ganja, about 56 million plants, are grown outside, but a significant 11.7 million are grown indoors. As of now, all of the crop’s $35 billion goes to ‘criminals’. If marijuana laws were reformed and weed was taxed by the government, a ’sin tax’ like that on cigarettes, the benefit for society might far outweigh any imagined detriment.

Marijuana Production in the United States (2006), Jon Gettman, DrugScience.org
Pot is called biggest cash crop, LATimes.com

For those who still don’t buy my weed apologia, here’s an excerpt from last month’s issue of The Economist:

IF CANNABIS were unknown, and bioprospectors were suddenly to find it in some remote mountain crevice, its discovery would no doubt be hailed as a medical breakthrough. Scientists would praise its potential for treating everything from pain to cancer, and marvel at its rich pharmacopoeia—many of whose chemicals mimic vital molecules in the human body. In reality, cannabis has been with humanity for thousands of years and is considered by many governments (notably America’s) to be a dangerous drug without utility. Any suggestion that the plant might be medically useful is politically controversial, whatever the science says. It is in this context that, on April 20th, America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement saying that smoked marijuana has no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States…

Today, cannabis is used all over the world, despite its illegality, to relieve pain and anxiety, to aid sleep, and to prevent seizures and muscle spasms. For example, two of its long-advocated benefits are that it suppresses vomiting and enhances appetite—qualities that AIDS patients and those on anti-cancer chemotherapy find useful. So useful, in fact, that the FDA has licensed a drug called Marinol, a synthetic version of one of the active ingredients of marijuana—delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Unfortunately, many users of Marinol complain that it gets them high (which isn’t what they actually want) and is not nearly as effective, nor cheap, as the real weed itself.

Reefer Madness, Economist.com

Mexico’s President Vincente Fox decided that he will not sign the bill legalizing limited drug possession, whiic was passed by Congress five days earlier, because of pressure from the United States. The main concern is that the ambiguities in the wording of the bill would make Mexico a new Amsterdam, a vacation spot for drug tourism, thereby boosting the drug market for the country’s drug cartels. Fox’s administration argued that the law was misunderstood, that individual Mexican states could impose their own laws on drug possession, thereby making it the job of state and local police to make small drug arrests, currently done by the federales. The bill could be amended in September, when Congress gets back to work, giving Fox, who has been pushing for the bill since 2001, three months to sign it before he ends his six-year term in December.

Fox Decides Not to Sign Drug Legalization Bill, LATimes.com 

Mexican Congress has passed (53-26) a new law legalizing the possession of a wide variety of drugs for personal use. Under the legislation, one can have up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin, 500 milligrams of cocaine, as well as small amounts of LSD, mushrooms, amphetamine and, of course, peyote. The law, proposed by President Vincente Fox in 2004, aims to focus police resources on the battle against major drug dealers, instead of recreational users. Those caught with larger than max quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face heavier jail terms under the plan. Now that both Canada and Mexico have legalized the possession of marijuana, perhaps it’s time for America to reevaluate its own drug policy.

Mexico Passes Law Making Possession of Some Drugs Legal, NYTimes.com

Researchers at Hebrew University found that certain properties of the cannabis plant can strengthen human bones, ergo preventing osteoporosis. The article appeared this week in the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.) journal. The research team, headed by Prof. Itai Bab, and partially funded by the US NIH (National Institutes of Health), found that plants like marijuana contain substances that activate CB2-receptors, endocannabinoids ("inner weed"), fatty acids produced mainly in the brain but also found in bones and the immune system. Many CB2-receptors were found in mice bones and shown to be key in preserving normal bone density. However, pot also activates the CB1-receptors, mostly present in the nervous system, and it is this reaction that gives cannabis its psychoactive aspect. For this reason, the researchers have already developed a synthetic compound called HU-308, which battles osteoporosis without the high. Still, looks like another point for team Medical Marijuana.

HU Scientists Develop Prototype Drug to Prevent Osteoporosis Based on Cannabinoids Produced by Body, HUNews
Pot-like substances help fight osteoporosis, ScienceBlog.com