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.