It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks • Hacker News Board

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#21

Post by dekhn » Tue, May 15, 2018, 12:41 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #2

It’s fair to say that if we think smoke in general is deleterious to respiratory health and many chemical compounds found in different kinds of smoke are known carcinogens that marijuana is not exempt from those troublesome characteristics. Given its potential harm as well as benefits in health, it’s worthwhile that people in general as well as proponents for liberalization, myself included, know more about all its e…

Your presumption is wrong. Science has shown repeatedly now that your assumption about carcinogens in marijuana is incorrect (I'd describe it as a "zeroth-order hypothesis", simply imputing properties by superficial similarity but no other evidence).

In fact, with the except of one non-invasive prostate cancer, marijuana seems to have a protective effect against lung cancer.

It still does cause respiratory health problems in heavy smokers, but not nearly as significant as tobacco smoking.

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#22

Post by dekhn » Tue, May 15, 2018, 12:42 PM UTC

gremlinsinc wrote: post #16

anothergoogler wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I smoked weed heavily, I had persistent sinus inflammation/infection and coughed up black and grey mucus every day. Open wounds took forever to properly heal. Switching to vaporizing cleared those symptoms up pretty much immediately. Smoke is just plain bad for you, even smoked meat (BBQ) is linked to cancer!

Damn...I don't smoke pot, but I love smoked brisket lol. If smoking is a concern though couldn't people just bake more cookies? Doesn't that have the same effect (again - I've never used...but am supportive of legalization for the sake of ending the drug war and attacks on minorities and poor people).

Baked goods also contain acrylamide and probably cause very small increase in rates of cancer. Not worth it from a health perspective.

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#23

Post by thatcat » Tue, May 15, 2018, 1:58 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #19

thatcat wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heat is well known to cause cancer, including in the form of hot beverages; but the contents of smoke aside from CO2 and H2O depends entirely on the source of combustion.

I'd not heard this about heat. It doesn't seem like an entirely straightforward link to me - aren't saunas supposed to fight cancer?

Since cancer is caused by certain mutations and heat can induce mutation, ingesting hot things can be mutagenic and thus carcinogenic.[0]

Saunas at the right temp for the right time can induce the expression of protective heat shock protiens.[1]

[0]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773211/

[1]https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/reasons-sweating-far-often/

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#24

Post by acct1771 » Wed, May 16, 2018, 5:53 AM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #22

gremlinsinc wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn...I don't smoke pot, but I love smoked brisket lol. If smoking is a concern though couldn't people just bake more cookies? Doesn't that have the same effect (again - I've never used...but am supportive of legalization for the sake of ending the drug war and attacks on minorities and poor people).

Baked goods also contain acrylamide and probably cause very small increase in rates of cancer. Not worth it from a health perspective.

What is that, and how?

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#25

Post by OscarCunningham » Wed, May 16, 2018, 9:42 AM UTC

maxander wrote: post #7

HNers interested in this topic are liable to be interested in SlateStarCodex's treatment of it: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-tha... . tl;dr; according to the author's "Irresponsible Utilitarian Analysis," the statistically dominant factor in whether widely-legalized marijuana would be a net benefit or harm to society is its impact on driving. Since cars are, for most of us, the most danger…

I find it funny that he doesn't consider the benefit of people who want to use cannabis being able to use cannabis. That seems like it should be the main advantage!

Re: It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks

#26

Post by __blockcipher__ » Thu, May 17, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

candiodari wrote: post #15

__blockcipher__ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. If you read the literature you will find cannabis smoke, physically, is stunningly non-harmful and not associated with much more than perhaps a slightly higher chance of respiratory infection. Whereas tobacco is ridiculously deleterious and causes oxidative damage directly iirc. I used to think it was all about smoke inhalation but it’s not that simple. That being said, obviously I agree that we need to s…

Ok ... and what about the actual burning leaves that you inhale and get stuck in your lungs ? Are you seriously willing to make the argument that that (which is the common way to smoke it) is not harmful ? I mean, shred a paper, burn it, watch the burning threads rise. Now imagine these things on top of alveoli in the lungs. Despite their tiny size those threads are hundreds to thousands of times bigger than those al…

Sorry, your argument intuitively sounds valid but it isn't. I know because I made the same assumptions but my reading of the scientific literature has convinced me otherwise.

As one example, "tar" inhaled from cannabis is not correlated with long-term diseases like lung cancer, throat cancer, etc. However, the "tar" (a very vague term) from tobacco, wood smoke, etc is horrifically damaging to your body.