Medical Marijuana Causes Cancer
Media Monitor | By Cliff Kincaid | January 21, 2004
Ironically some of the same people who oppose tobacco smoking have been sympathetic to “medical marijuana.”
The latest evidence about the fraud known as "medical marijuana" comes from a study by a team headed by Dr. Sarah Nuttall at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England. Epidemiological studies made during the past 30 years have found that marijuana causes lung damage and probably cancer. The new study took blood samples, measured lung function and tested non-smokers and smokers for antioxidant markers.
A Reuters news story quoted Dr. Nuttall as saying, "Smoking cannabis on a regular basis actually depletes your lung of protective antioxidant substances...and this may have chronic long-term implications for young individuals." Those antioxidants protect cells against damage that can lead to cancer. The study found that marijuana users showed more signs of damage than those who smoked only cigarettes.
Ironically some of the same people who oppose tobacco smoking have been sympathetic to "medical marijuana." For example, Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, has been featured in an advertising campaign promoting the legalization of marijuana. The ads carry a quote from Bloomberg, who, asked if he had ever smoked marijuana, said: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." But as mayor he initiated a ban on tobacco-smoking in bars and restaurants because he says it is killing people.
Marijuana- and tobacco-smoking are damaging to the lungs, but marijuana smoke has 50 to 70 percent more known carcinogens than tobacco smoke. In 1999, Dr. Zuo-Fend Zhang of the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California Los Angeles linked marijuana-smoking with head and neck cancers. He said, "Many people may think marijuana is harmless, but it's not. The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco." A year before, Dr. Marinel Ammenheuser and her colleagues at the University of Texas Medical Branch found evidence that marijuana-smoking causes the same kind of damage to DNA as tobacco.
The "medical marijuana" movement came up with the idea that smoking marijuana was beneficial in the treatment of cancer because some marijuana smokers said it relieved the nausea caused by chemotherapy. In 1986, however, the Food and Drug Administration had approved a drug in pill form which contains THC, a component found in marijuana, for treatment of that nausea. The marijuana lobby wasn't happy with that, or any other effective anti-nausea drugs. It became apparent that they liked marijuana for the high it gave them, not because of any perceived medical value.
We didn't find any stories about the new findings in such influential papers as The New York Times and The Washington Post. The New York Post ran the small Reuters story about the Nuttall study at the bottom of page 11. It was posted on the MSNBC website and appeared in a health update section in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. We have seen this pattern of the media running sympathetic articles about "medical marijuana" and ignoring its dangers for many years. Many journalists smoke pot and are not reluctant to deceive their readers and viewers.
Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can be reached at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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This was a known thing… I mean when your treatment is based on marijuana, you have to expect on damaging side effects. In every side that talks about drug rehab programs is mentioned that marijuana can be a stimulant for cancer or schizophrenia. The main problem is that for those who make the treatment marijuana is just a matter of choice: what disease do you choose? Because there is no other solution.
This is not such big news. We all knew this, one way or another. I understand that those who have their treatment based on marijuana have no choice, but the other random addict smokers do. Better to smoke a cigar instead, they are less damaging.
Apparently no one dug very deep for this one. The truth is that there are many studies and research experiments done that show cannabis CURES cancer, in many of it’s various forms. This is not new info, either. One of the most quoted is from way back in 1974. (and if my companies internet policy didn’t block it, I would post the link(s)) It doesn’t take long to do an internet search for the info, you do have to “weed” through a lot of propaganda from BOTH sides, but the info IS out there. Sorry to break it to you “Ada”, but it is more harmful to smoke a tobacco cigar. Reality is on the side of the cure. It’s sad that so many are willing to spend resources to prevent people from being the owners of their own bodies. Prohibition didn’t work with a known toxin (alcohol) and it’s still not working with a relatively benign plant. (10 raw potatoes are more toxic than 1,000 lbs. of cannabis)
Whatever way these politicians or anyone try to justify smoking anything, at the end of the day it is always going to be bad for you. It’s simple science. Surly there are other ways to relive nausea that won’t cause any damage. I work in a drug rehab and have to treat many patients who’ve become hooked onto marijuana. The drug has somehow received a more ‘friendly’ image then other types of substances that can be smoked but really is just as bad.
please, someone, find me some FACTS; numbers, evidence goddamnit! true, we like getting high, but if its such an awful gateway, cancer causing drug then why does 1/3 of the population smoke it? next time you attempt to write a good article, find some actual proof.
May 6 at 1:01 pm | #1 | Link
http://www.nadia-me.com/
I heard testimony from a very reliable source in which it was said tat marijuana smoke contains some ov the same ingredients in tobacco smoke that can cause emphysema.i like this article. good job cliff!!:happyface: