Pubdate: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2009 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Pamela Fayerman, Canwest News Service Cited: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/8/814 POT, TOBACCO SMOKING BAD COMBINATION Consumers Of Both Drugs Run Three Times The Risk Of Lung Disease People who habitually smoke both tobacco and marijuana are about three times more likely than non-smokers to develop serious lung disease, according to results of a British Columbia study. That affects a lot of people because nearly 20 per cent of Vancouverites over the age of 40 do or have done just that, according to the findings of a survey conducted by a team from Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital. People who smoked only cigarettes were 2.7 times more likely than non-smokers to have chronic obstructive lung disease. Those who smoke or smoked both cigarettes and marijuana were 2.9 times more likely to have the disease. The study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, included nearly 900 Vancouver residents recruited into the study by random telephone dialing. It showed that 14 per cent of participants now smoke only pot and 14 per cent smoke tobacco. Only 38 of the 856 participants now smoke both marijuana and tobacco. But 160 participants (18 per cent) were either current or previous users of both Consistent with previous population surveys showing that B.C. has the highest marijuana use in the country, 45.5 per cent of participants in the current study said they had used marijuana in the past. The study was designed to estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) among adults over the age of 40 in the general population and its associations with smoking. Researchers from iCapture Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, a department at St. Paul's, had expected 15 per cent would have lung disease, but the study found it was 19.3 per cent. About half of the people with clinical signs of lung disease had not yet been diagnosed with it -- they found out when they did lung function tests for the purposes of the study. Lead author and respirologist Dr. Wan C. Tan said those study participants were given the results of their tests so they could share them with their family doctors, get referred for specialist care or, ideally, "take smoking cessation more seriously." COPD -- which includes chronic emphysema or chronic bronchitis -- is often indicated by an ongoing cough with phlegm and wheezing or shortness of breath. Tan said COPD is a progressive disease and is the fourth-leading killer in North America, behind cancer, heart disease and stroke. In the study, researchers found that participants with COPD had a greater likelihood of acquiring other illnesses, such as asthma, heart disease and high blood pressure. They were more likely to have a history of hospital admission for respiratory problems. Marijuana smoking alone did not appear to cause COPD, according to the study's findings. Although marijuana-only users had a 1.6 times greater risk of COPD than non-smokers, Tan said researchers are not convinced of the statistical power of that odds ratio because there were too few study participants who used marijuana alone in the COPD group. Experts have found one marijuana joint is equal to the effects (on lungs) of 2.5 to five cigarettes. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin