Re: MARIJUANA SMOKING FAR MORE HARMFUL THAN BOOSTERS CLAIM
The accusation that marijuana causes cancer is an old lie that runs
contrary to peer reviewed science. The Centers for Disease Control
have yet to discover the first "marijuana only"cancer.
The claim that "smoking three cannabis (marijuana) joints will cause
one to inhale the same amount
of toxic chemicals as a whole packet of cigarettes" neglects a very
significant difference between marijuana and tobacco. Tobacco smoke
contains ionizing radiation and cannabis smoke does not. The tobacco
plant's roots and the sticky leaf surface absorb radioactive
polonium-210 and lead-210 isotopes which are inhaled with tobacco
smoke. A pack and a half a day tobacco smoker receives a daily dose
of radiation equal to what a person would have received standing
downwind from Three Mile Island nuclear reactor during the first 21
hours after the infamous accident.
Marijuana does not contain ionizing radiation.
It is extremely misleading to blame tobacco risks on "carcinogens"
without accounting for ionizing radiation because many experts
believe that combining ionizing radiation with carcinogenic
substances increases cancer risks a hundredfold.
Vilma Hunt, who discovered polonium 210 in tobacco in 1964, recalls
the day her study was released. It seemed that every chemist and
physicist she knew quit smoking. "They immediately understood the
implication," she recounts. "They said, 'If there's ionizing
radiation in this stuff, that's it. I'm finished'."
Another reason to reject assertions about marijuana causing cancer is
the fact that cannabis contains several extremely active anti-cancer
compounds. Louis S. Harris, of the Medical College of Virginia,
discovered that delta-9 THC increased cancer survival time by 36%
without the weight loss caused by most standard anti-tumor agents.
Delta-8 THC and cannabinol were also found to be quite active in
tumor suppression.
R Givens,
San Francisco
Newshawk: CMAP
http://www.mapinc.org/cmapPubdate: Tue, 28 Mar 2006
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Webpage:
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/ ... b6fe59315aCopyright: 2006 The Province
Contact:
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/Details:
http://www.mapinc.org/media/476Bookmark:
http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)
Bookmark:
http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark:
http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
They know that it is human nature to take up causes whereby a man may oppress his neighbor, no matter how unjustly. ... Hence they have had no trouble in finding men who would preach the damnability and heresy of the new doctrine from the very pulpit.
--Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer
