The biggest lie that I hear over and over is that smoking marijuana causes cancer. Even some pot smokers believe this. The fact is smoke does not in an of itself cause cancer. The reason cigarettes cause cancer is the tobacco, not the smoke -- you can chew tobacco and you will get lip and tongue cancer.

It doesn't help that the media is constantly feeding the American public lies about this. The following paragraph is typical of the half-truths the Drug Warriors put out regarding marijuana and cancer:

"Studies have shown that one possible long-term health effect of marijuana use is cancer. Any smoke, tobacco or marijuana, has an inflammatory effect on the lungs, irritating air passages and impairing pulmonary function. In addition, marijuana smoke contains several of the carcinogenic tars of tobacco smoke, and marijuana smokers hold the smoke in the lungs deeply and for a longer length of time than most cigarette smokers, exposing more lung tissue. Chronic marijuana use results in metaplasis, a pre-cancerous condition of the lung cells. While research continues in this important area, marijuana users should consider the substance as both a powerful drug and a possible carcinogen."

First of all, what in the world does it mean to say that studies have shown that something is possible? If that is not double-speak, I don't know what is. To say marijuana smoke contains carcinogens is also misleading because pratically everything contains carcinogens: what matters is the level of carcinogens and it is very low for marijuana. Finally, saying metaplasis is "a pre-cancerous condition of the lung cells" is an outright lie. The definition of metaplasia is an abnormal tissue change, or in other words, scarring. Just because cigarette smoke causes first lung damage, then cancer, does not mean that this lung damage is pre-cancerous.

The way to prove something causes cancer is to compare the incidence of cancer in people exposed to the substance to the general population. It is that simple. The fact is that these studies have been done for marijuana and consistantly shown there is no higher level of cancer in marijuana smokers. To me, this means it is accurate to say that marijuana has been proven to not cause cancer.

All of the following have been proven to increase cancer risk, so marijuana smoking should, at the very least, be considered much safer than all of these:

• Living with a cigarette smoker due to second hand smoke.
• Living in a major city due to pollution in the air.
• Sun bathing due to UV rays.
• Eating red meat.

Of course, smoking marijuana is not good for your lungs, but it is not that bad either. I have smoked pot for years and still can't smoke a cigarette without choking. I can jog, rollerblade, and ski and have never had problems breathing. Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest Jazz musicians, smoked pot for decades and it never affected his ability to play the trumpet (which obviously requires a strong set of lungs). But even this minor risk could be avoided if marijuana were legalized because then the cigarettes would be filtered or you could just eat it in a brownie and avoid the smoke altogether.

Review the medical research yourself. Visit HealthGate's Free MEDLINE and search for marijuana and cancer, then tobacco and cancer. Please set a bookmark now before leaving and be sure to return to the Project!

Scotty J. Project	Scotty J. Survey	Scotty J. Chat Room
Weed Wedding	20,000 Served!	Join the Project!
Write to 1000 Elected Officials!
Send $5 to help grow LEGALIZE.COM!