Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002
Source: Irish Examiner (Ireland)
Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 2002
Contact:  http://www.examiner.ie/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/144
Author: Julie Wheldon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CANNABIS AS HARMFUL AS TOBACCO TO SMOKERS, WARNS CHARITY

SMOKING cannabis is at least as harmful as smoking tobacco and may carry a 
higher risk of some respiratory cancers, a leading charity warned today. 
The British Lung Foundation (BLF) is conducting a review of the published 
medical and scientific evidence on the impact of smoking cannabis on lung 
health.

Its report A Smoking Gun? The Impact of Smoking Cannabis on Respiratory 
Health is due to be published later this year.

But today the BLF said the report is likely to indicate an increased risk 
of respiratory cancers and infections associated with cannabis smoking.

BLF chief executive Dame Helena Shovelton said: "Many young people are 
simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of 
respiratory cancers and infections."

She said regardless of cannabis's legal status, many young people will make 
their own decision about whether they wish to use it or not.

"The Government have a public health responsibility to ensure they do so 
with full knowledge of the risks associated with smoking cannabis.

"Fifty years ago, people thought smoking was a good thing. Now it is 
described as a public health disaster we don't want to see the same thing 
happen with cannabis," she said.

The report is also expected to warn that research carried out in the 1960s 
and 1970s may underestimate the impact of today's cannabis since it is much 
more potent than the cannabis smoked then.
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