MARIJUANA, COCAINE LINKED TO CANCER

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Longterm marijuana or cocaine smoking might increase the
risk of lung cancer, suggests a small study that compared tissue samples
from people who smoke tobacco and illegal drugs.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that smoking
marijuana and crack can cause the same precancerous changes in their
bronchial cells that tobacco smoking causes well before the smoker gets
cancer.

The study, reported in this week's Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, also found that smoking both tobacco and marijuana or cocaine
increased the risk, because those smokers' were more likely to sustain
additional precancerous changes. Also, these combination smokers were more
likely to have damage to their p53 gene, an important gene in fending off
cancer.

The study compared respiratory tract tissue samples from 28 healthy
volunteers and 76 smokers of tobacco, marijuana, cocaine or a combination
of the drugs.

``For the first time, our investigation shows tobacco is not the only
smoked substance that sets in motion the molecular events which can lead to
lung cancer,'' Dr. Sanford Barsky, a UCLA pathologist and study co-author,
said in a statement.

Tobacco is one of the world's best known cancer-causing agents. But whether
other smoked drugs cause cancer has been controversial. Marijuana in
particular has been of concern because of reports that use among young
people is rising, and because it contains many of the same carcinogens as
cigarettes. But epidemiological studies tracking cancer in marijuana users
have been mixed.

Checked-by: Richard Lake