Post: Marijuana and Your Risk of Lung Cancer

7 min read Does Marijuana Cause Lung Cancer?

Marijuana, both for recreational and medical use, is becoming legal in more states. Even as more people use it, health experts aren’t sure whether smoking weed raises your odds of getting lung cancer . Here’s what researchers know — and don’t know — about the connection. Researchers understand the link between tobacco and lung cancer, but they’re less clear about the connection to marijuana smoke. (Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images) Is Marijuana Harmful?

The link between tobacco smoke and lung cancer is well known. Studies show that marijuana smoke has many of the same harmful substances as tobacco and often more of them. Among the hazards are: Benzo(a)pyrene

Benz(a)anthracene

Phenols

Vinyl chlorides

Nitrosamines

Reactive oxygen species

People also smoke marijuana in a different way than they smoke tobacco, possibly posing greater danger to the lungs: Some people hold in weed smoke as long as possible to get "higher," but that’s a myth. In fact, holding weed smoke in your lungs for more than a few seconds can potentially harm your health even more. You generally smoke a joint all the way to the end. Tar, the sticky stuff left after burning, has high levels of harmful substances, and it’s concentrated at the end of a joint. When scientists looked at the lung tissue of some people who smoke marijuana regularly, they found changes that are known to signal the future growth of cancer. Lung Irritants and Marijuana Smoking weed harms your lungs. It can cause a long-term lung problem called chronic bronchitis. Weed smoke hurts the inside of your breathing tubes, which can lead to coughing, mucus, wheezing, and other lung problems.Smoking weed can also weaken your body’s defense against sickness, especially if you’re already sick or taking medicine that weakens your immune system. Weed smoke kills cells that help fight germs and makes more mucus. This could lead to more lung infections, but we don’t have strong proof of this yet.Some studies show that people who smoke weed have thicker and inflamed breathing tubes and damaged lung tissue than those […]

Marijuana and Your Risk of Lung Cancer