Is smoking cannabis as bad for your lungs as smoking tobacco?
Let’s get one thing straight from the onset.
Any form of smoking is not going to do your lungs any good.
If you are someone who wants to do everything they can to live a long and healthy life, perhaps you should consider taking your cannabis in the form of edibles.
It is a misnomer to think that as cannabis is a wholly natural product, it must be far safer than tobacco.
After all, tobacco contains over 7,000 chemicals and at least 250 of them are known to be harmful.
But, did you know that there are also dangerous chemicals in cannabis?
In fact, cannabis smoke contains higher levels of two known carcinogens compared to tobacco smoke, it contains 50% more benzopyrene and 75% more benzathracene.
It has also been shown that smoking cannabis is bad for your lungs, and the expression ‘the more you use, the more you lose, applies to both tobacco and cannabis smokers.
However, there is a difference in the damage levels, but this has little to do with the constituents of the smoke and more to do with how often someone smokes tobacco and how often they smoke cannabis.
More people smoke 20 cigarettes a day than smoke two joints a day. In other words, if you only smoke cannabis, you are less likely to severely damage your lungs compared to a regular cigarette smoker.
Research, however, has shown that heavy cannabis smokers do suffer from a reduction in lung function over time.
What is interesting is that smoking cigarettes has a direct link to the onset of lung cancer. However, research shows that, if anything, there is a negative effect where smoking cannabis and lung cancer are concerned.
this could possibly be put down to the beneficial effects of chemicals in cannabis such as cannabinoids and phytochemicals.
So, what are your alternatives if you still want to enjoy the effects of cannabis.
Well, we have already mentioned edibles, and one shouldn’t forget the option of vaping.
Vaping has many advantages over smoking in that it doesn’t burn any of the constituents and instead simply heats up cannabinoids, enabling the release of terpenes and other psychoactive phytochemicals.
Like so many things we enjoy in life, like alcohol and chocolate, if taken in moderation, the chances of any harm resulting are greatly reduced.
We’d love to know your thoughts on the subject, so do let us know in the comment section below.
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