Pot found more harmful than tobacco

Marijuana smoking poses a greater risk of lung cancer than tobacco smoking, with just one marijuana joint being as harmful as smoking 20 cigarettes, a recent study by researchers in New Zealand said. The study, released in the February issue of the European Respiratory Journal, found marijuana smoke is qualitatively similar to tobacco smoke but contains up to twice the concentration of cancer-causing polyaromatic hydrocarbons and marijuana smokers tend to hold the smoke in their lungs, increasing the carcinogenic effect, Baptist Press reported Tuesday.

"This issue is of major public health importance, due to the prevalent use of cannabis globally and lung cancer being responsible for over a million deaths in the world each year," the article states. "With the prevalence and mortality from lung cancer increasing, prevention by risk factor modification is of paramount importance."

Barrett Duke, vice president of public policy and research for the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press, "Not only does the drug severely impair all physical and mental functioning, lead to uses of other destructive drugs, and make users prone to engage in dangerous behavior, it will also increase the likelihood many-fold that the user will experience one of the most feared and excruciatingly painful forms of death — cancer. There are plenty of reasons to keep marijuana illegal. This study reinforces the health argument."