Is marijuana more harmful than tobacco?

i read on this website http://www.checkyourself.com that marijuana is more likely to cause cancer than tobacco...what do you think?
Answer:
smoke of any kind is not meant to be in your lungs but most pot smokers dont smoke 20 joints a day like cig smokers who smoke a pack a day. besides, there are other ways to high on weed that arent as harmful; vaporizer, brownies

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ummm.I think so...or tobacco would be illegal and marijuana wouldn't!! :) Hope this helped!!

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Interesting how that site talks about the evils of "drugs and alcohol" but never seems to mention anything about tobacco, unless it is subltly favorable. Wonder who put up the money for that little public service venture?
I work in a public health field and in over 15 years I have seen lots of cases of lung cancer attributed to tobacco but not one attributed to marijuana. I see data on approximately 200 lung cancer cases per year; probably 90% attributed to smoking tobacco; other 10% non smoking related. .

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Marijuana is much more harmful to your health! It goes to your brain!

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Why do people care about cancer if he/she wants to smoke either one of those things? It makes no difference. They both bad for health.

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Please see this article from the Washington Post:

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection
By Marc Kaufman, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, May 26, 2006; Page A03

Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

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I think that it is propaganda and bullshit. Reminds me of "Tell Your Children" more commonly known as Reefer Madness.

(From the site you linked, checkyourself.com)

"Five Myths About Marijuana

1. MYTH: Marijuana is Harmless
TRUTH: Sure, it can’t directly kill you – but that doesn’t mean that pot is risk-free. Regular marijuana use has been shown to be associated with long-term problems, including poor academic performance, memory loss and lung cancer. To a developing brain, like those of teenagers, marijuana can be especially toxic -- using pot can lead to panic attacks, depression and other mental health problems, not to mention increased anxiety."

I doubt you will believe me, but I quote several sources in saying that there has never been a documented case linking lung cancer to marijuana smoking. Also the smoked part of cannabis contains 1/3 of the tar in the smoked part of tobacco, also in the U.S. at least by law tobacco has to be fertilized in soil rich in radium 226, which has been shown to possibly be the main cause in lung cancer from cigarettes. Although smoking anything is bad for your lungs, regardless of what it is. Then again, you don't have to smoke marijuana to get the effects. One thing that they didn't mention that they should have is that marijuana increases your heart rate and especially in higher doses can complicate heart problems. They are misinformed about marijuana causing mental problems (or they lie, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt), it can precipitate neuroses or psychoses in those who are already at risk, but it can't cause them, only intensify them.

"2. MYTH: Marijuana is Not Addictive
TRUTH: But what you didn’t know is that more teens enter treatment each year with marijuana as the main substance that they abused. In 2004, 64% of teens were admitted for treatment for marijuana as their main drug of choice vs. 36% of all other substances including alcohol. Marijuana is addictive, as it meets the criteria for substance dependence established by the American Psychiatric Association including:

* Tolerance (needing more of the substance to achieve the same effects)
* Withdrawal symptoms, using a drug even in the presence of adverse effects (you smoke even though bad things have happened when you do)
* Giving up social, occupational or recreational activities because of substance use (you quit your sports team or job because they get in the way of your drug use.)

The desire for marijuana can have a powerful pull over a user – and can make it hard to quit. "

Arguing against this tends to cause the most controversy, mostly because there isn't really a quantitative measurement of addictiveness as there is absolutely no physically addicting substance in marijuana. The main problem is simply the definition of addictive, which varies quite a bit, even amongst scientists studying this on either side of the issue. I define marijuana use as habit forming, not addictive, if you want to call it addictive, fine. As for teens being admitted for addiction of marijuana, that is true but misleading. When you are arrested for use or possession of marijuana (sometimes, don't count on it and it depends on where you live) you often get a choice of go to jail for a few years or go to rehab, go ahead and take a guess as to what most people would chose. I can't argue with it fitting the tolerance definition though as it does require more for the same effect after a while of consumption. I disagree with the withdrawal symptoms part based on people I know that quit after years of smoking with no trouble whatsoever and no withdrawal symptoms, but while researching marijuana there is a small percentage of people that claim withdrawal symptoms so I can't discount it completely. As for the last claim, again there is no quantitative measurement of this and they just claim a correlation between quiting social, occupational or recreational activities because of substance use. This is kind of voodoo pharmacology or the claim that a substance made you do something. There is possibly some degree of truth to this, it is similar to other statistics such as that males that drink coffee in the morning are more likely to cheat on their wives statiscially as well as that persons who's favorite color is brown are more likely to be serial killers statistically speaking. Most people I know that use or have used marijuana do fine in life and use responsibly, a very small percentage would qualify as stoners that do nothing but get high all day. However, I firmly believe that if they didn't use marijuana or it didn't even exist, that they would find another substance or activity and that they just are lazy people with no motivation.

"3. MYTH: Marijuana Isn’t As Bad As Cigarettes
TRUTH: Nope, sorry. Pot actually contains many of the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco. Puff for puff, smoking marijuana may increase the risk of cancer more than smoking tobacco does.

Therefore, if you smoke pot regularly, you may experience the same breathing problems as those who smoke cigarettes. To put it plainly, walking up flights of stairs will seem difficult, and if you’re an athlete -- that unattractive wheezing and coughing caused by excessive smoking won’t look so hot (or feel so good) on the playing fields."

This is using the data that tar is the cancer causing agent in tobacco (of which cannabis has less of), which is quite possibly not true. Although tar is obviously not good for you, especially in your lungs, Lead 210 and polonium 210 have been determined to quite probably be the most cancer causing agents in tobacco and are not present in marijuana. Though, again, smoking anything is bad for you. So the lesson there is make brownies.

"4. MYTH: Driving While High is Safer than Driving Drunk
TRUTH: Hardly. In a study reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, even a moderate dose of marijuana was shown to impair driving performance, since it affects alertness, concentration, perception coordination and reaction time – essential skills required for safe driving. Researchers also found that 17% (1 in 5) of crash victims under the age of 18 tested positive for marijuana."

You shouldn't drive under the effect of any psychoactive substance. However, in this situation driving while high on marijuana is safer than driving while drunk (Here is a clip from a British show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7_ajf74...
that shows smoking pot being much safer than drinking while driving if you want more links I can give you a couple more if you would like but I don't feel like looking up the URLs right now). As for their figures, from the DMV's own records you find that in about 85% of drivers that were in an accident while under the influence of pot were also under the effects of alcohol.

"5. MYTH: I Can Smoke Pot and Still Get Straight A’s
TRUTH: Hey, anything is possible – but there has been a lot of research done that states the opposite. Researchers have found that heavy marijuana use may be especially problematic during teens’ peak learning years, when the brain is still developing, since smoking pot can impair your ability to concentrate and retain information. This can cause poor academic performance. You might think you’re doing well in school – but you’ll never know if smoking pot is inhibiting your true academic potential."

Well, you can't argue against this because it is theoretical potential of the mind and can't be quantified, but the best I can do is that I am taking a decently hard selection of college classes (I am college age, not a non-trad) that have a retention rate of less than 50% in most of my classes because of people that are going to fail and I have all A's except one B taking a full load of classes and working, but only part time. I am by no means a heavy user, not even a moderate user really, but I suppose that theoretically I might have gotten straight A's if I had never used the substance. Then again, because this is only theoretical, it could have enhanced my performance by way of relieving stress. It didn't and I don't have any significant source of stress, but it is theoretically possible and follows the same logic that anti-marijuana organizations tend to use.

“Some Facts You Just Can’t Argue With:
Smoking marijuana leads to some changes in the brain similar to those caused by cocaine, heroin and alcohol.
There is 50-70% more cancer causing material in marijuana smoke than in cigarette smoke. Although it’s constantly promoted as “all natural,” marijuana smoke contains more than 400 chemicals.
THC (or tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary intoxicant in marijuana and hashish, is rapidly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs. Generally, traces (metabolites) of THC can be detected by standard urine testing methods several days after a smoking session. However, in chronic heavy users, traces can sometimes be detected for weeks after they have stopped using marijuana.
Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction.
SOURCE: Unless otherwise specified: "Marijuana Myths %26 Facts: The Truth Behind Popular Misperceptions." ONDCP and NIDA “

I would like to know exactly what changes they are talking about in the brain that are similar to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol as those aren't even similar in terms of chemical processes in the brain. Until I know what they are referring to there, I have no argument with it but I don't assume it is correct. I have already disagreed with the carcinogenic material composition of the substances at least twice, so This is beating a dead horse and seems to be filler to me. Just for additional info on this though, http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/ca... shows a comparison of the chemicals in a joint vs a cigarette. As for marijuana smoke containing more than 400 chemicals, I don't doubt this, in fact it is completely 100% true, marijuana smoke contains more than 400 chemicals, i think around 430 or so, but I'd have to look that up again as it is fairly irrelevant and so I forgot it. This seems to scare people fairly regularly for some reason though. To put some perspective on this for those scared of the 400+ chemicals in the smoke, coffee has well over 800 chemicals in it, less than 10% of which have been tested and out of the handful that have over a dozen of them are considered carcinogenic (cancer causing) yet coffee is legal and considered relatively harmless. Just keep in mind that statistics like that can be twisted to seem threatening and that is more likely to happen when the arguer has a weaker standpoint and just won't admit his mistake.

I might be getting a bit picky here, but Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, Tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-p... C21H30O2), call it what you want is only thought to be the intoxicant, Cannabinol (6,6,9-Trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-d... 3-amyl-1-hydroxy-6,6,9-trimeth... C21H26O2) is another chemical that might be the main intoxicant, not really arguing against this, just stating that it might not be the intoxicant. That isn't the point though. They say it is absorbed into your fat like that is a particularly bad thing, it is often compared to the poison DDT which is also absorbed into fat, but there are plenty of substances that are absorbed into fat that you need, such as vitamin A. Also saying that it can be detected isn't by itself a bad thing. That is like saying it is bad because it is illegal, which isn't an argument at all. Then they repeat that it can lead to addiction, which I already disagreed with.

There are many arguments that these organizations seem to copy and paste on their websites from each other that I'm glad this one had the since to leave off as they use data from unreliable studies that were rejected by the scientific community for various reasons. Such as the claims that it leads to permanent memory loss, lowered sperm count, that it flattens brain waves, and plenty of others. Which actually showed memory returning after the effects wore off, sperm count returning after it left the body, and the brain wave claim was an outright lie that was admitted eventually and the commercial was taken off the air. If you want to know specifically if I can dispute a claim, want to know a source I didn't list, or have any questions or comments, just message my profile, or you could always look it up yourself.

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put it like this any burned plant that is inhaled isn't good for your lungs. But on the other hand there is no way you can smoke more marijuana than tobacco. The average marijuana user smokes somewhere around 1 to 1.5 grams 3 to 4 times a week. The average tobacco user smokes a pack a day. Tobacco has been known to cause cancer marijuana has been known to kill cancerous cells and even inhibit tumor growth. I mean you can actually look the facts up for yourself, but I would say marijuana is less harmful than tobacco. Just compare at the annual deaths 100,000/yr to 0/yr-decade-century-millennium... history.

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I highly double marijuana is more harmful than tobacco. Especially with tobacco having nicotine, which makes you smoke more and more over time. Marijuana does not have that addictive quality.

If you wanted to smoke herbs and such safely, you should get a vaporizer. With no flame to burn, there is a huge reduction in cancer causing agents.

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If you smoke it as frequently (which would be stupid) than yes. But rarely do people smoke 20 joints a day, so no. There is a thing called a vaporizer, it heats the herbs hot enough to make vapor instead of smoke, the THC goes with the vapor thus eliminating the carcinogens that come with smoke. That study is just more government propaganda for you to swallow.

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