• frezik@midwest.social
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    11 months ago

    There’s so much garbage in tobacco cigarettes that the comparison is barely worth making.

    Now, yes, burning any plant material will release carcinogens that can increase cancer risk. Incidentally, this includes sitting around a campfire, but most people in developed countries don’t do that every day. However, studies on marijuana smoke find that smoking one joint a day for a year gives slightly elevated testicular cancer risk, and inconclusive results for other cancers.

    Possibly, marijuana has a protective effect that tends to cancel out the inherent carcinogens.

    • aidan@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      There’s a lot of research disagreeing

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      The reality is no, cannabis probably doesn’t block carcinogens. Nor is it more harmful to your lungs than tobacco. But it’s not really clear that it’s less harmful than a filtered cigarette. I think it is probably a bit healthier of a habit just in that people usually smoke much lower quantities. But if you take a smoker and stoner each smoking 10 times a day they’re both at a higher risk of lung complications than non-smokers. Also importantly, cannabis is not chemically addictive (it definitely can be an addiction though) whereas nicotine very much so is.

      • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        It’s also just not at all the same thing.

        An aircraft mechanic can’t just go out on his five minute break and smoke a j and go back to it.

        • Mango@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Yeah, maybe one small hit at best. Who’s smoking 10 joints in a day, wtf?