SMOKING POT WORSE THAN TOBACCO

Heavy pot smokers will suffer serious lung disease two decades earlier
than their cigarette-smoking counterparts, and the style of dope
smoking is to blame, according to a study.

The deep, slow inhalation and long breath-hold is predisposing
cannabis smokers to a condition of rapid lung destruction much younger
in life, Melbourne researchers have found.

A team from the Department of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory
Medicine at Monash University reviewed the lung condition of
middle-aged chronic cannabis smokers.

They found high rates of bullous lung disease, a debilitating
condition where air trapped in the lungs causes obstruction to
breathing and eventual destruction of the organ.

It is often caused by exposure to toxic chemicals or long-term
exposure to tobacco smoke.

Studies have shown the disease will most likely strike tobacco smokers
around the age of 65, but the review, published in the journal
Respirology, shows dope smokers are being hit 20 years earlier, while
in their early 40s.

Lead author Dr Matthew Naughton said the disease could easily go
undetected as patients suffering lung breakdown may show normal chest
x-rays and lung functions.

"What is outstanding about this study is the relatively young ages of
the lung disease patients, as well as the lack of abnormality on chest
x-rays and lung functions in nearly half of the patients we tested,"
Dr Naughton said.

Cannabis smokers inhale more and hold their breath for four times as
long as cigarette smokers.

Dr Naughton said the breathing style increased the concentration and
pulmonary deposition of inhaled particulate matter, causing greater
and faster rapid lung destruction.

"Marijuana is inhaled as extremely hot fumes to the peak inspiration
and held for as long as possible before slow exhalation," he said.

"This predisposes to greater damage to the lungs and makes marijuana
smokers more prone to bullous disease as compared with cigarette smokers."

The researchers said the effects of cannabis smoking on the lung were
rarely reported and poorly understood considering the popularity of
the habit.

A recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report suggested
11 per cent of Australians smoked cannabis.

Rates are much higher among teenagers, with almost one in five trying
the substance.