Scientists found worrying comparison between smoking weed and lung cancer compared to cigarette smokers
Researchers made a worrying observation about weed smokers who go on to develop lung cancer.
By now it should be no surprise that inhaling smoke into your lungs - whether that be tobacco, e-liquids or weed, is far from the best thing for your long-term health.
It's long been established that anyone who smokes is far likelier to develop life-threatening illnesses such as lung cancer, although more recent studies have looked into which specific type of smoke might well be worst for the human body.
Although it's long been thought that smoking cigarettes is probably the biggest contributing factor, this could well stem from a lack of research, due to cannabis being illegal in so many countries.
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A 2021 study examined how cannabis use affects young males with primary lung cancer undergoing surgery, and it produced some surprising results.
It suggested that those who smoked cannabis as well as tobacco had larger tumours, altered molecular profiles, and more complications after surgery.
When it comes to lung cancer or other lung-related issues such as bronchitis, there can be a lot of contributing factors, with air pollution also linked to the deadly disease.
But now, scientists and health professionals are starting to urge more caution around smoking weed, after the same 2021 study found that cannabis smoke has more harmful chemicals than tobacco smoke.
However, it also seems to be the common sense opinion that increased usage leads to increased risk, with Brooks Udelsman, MD pointing out that we still need to establish how much marijuana use would lead to an increased cancer risk.
“What we don’t know right now is the dose relationship,” he says.
“So, if someone smokes marijuana occasionally once a week, once a month or a few times a year, do they still have that same risk? My suspicion is that there is probably minimal risk.
"All we know right now is that people who smoke a lot of marijuana— to the point that they develop a dependency on it or require hospital care or evaluation for it — do appear to have a higher cancer risk."
Dr Udelsman also points out that anything which causes prolonged or chronic inflammation can put your body at higher risk for cancer.
Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 different chemicals, with around 70 of those associated with cancer, and some of those cancer-causing chemicals are also present in marijuana smoke.
So, while smoking weed is often perceived as the friendlier alternative to tobacco smoking despite being illegal in the vast majority of countries worldwide, it can obviously come with a lot of risks to the human body.
And it's not just the lungs that can be affected, as excessive weed usage has also been linked with heart issues and cognitive decline in the brain.
James Moorhouse