CANNABIS 'WORSE THAN TOBACCO'

Cannabis Is Linked To Cancer

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have
warned.

The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to
make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy.

The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is
downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession
would lead to a caution, rather than arrest.

The British Lung Foundation is currently carrying out a review of research
into the impact of smoking cannabis on health.

Preliminary results suggest that the drug is at least as harmful as smoking
tobacco - and may carry a higher risk of some respiratory cancers.

Ignorance

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.

"The government spends millions of pounds a year on smoking cessation and
public education about the dangers of smoking, yet smoking cannabis is at
least as harmful as smoking tobacco and, indeed, may carry a higher risk of
some respiratory cancers."

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," she
said.

"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."

Under Estimate

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.

The average cannabis cigarette smoked in the 1960s contained about 10mg of
D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient which accounts for the
psychoactive properties of cannabis, compared to 150mg of THC today.

British Lung Foundation chairman Dr Mark Britton said: "There is an urgent
need for more research into the effects of cannabis on respiratory health so
that we can feel confident in the advice we give to young people.

"As a respiratory consultant physician, I see the devastating consequences
of smoking-related lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic obstructive
airways diseases, every day and I am fearful that long-term cannabis smoking
may be linked to similar conditions."