
It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks - haZard_OS
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/upshot/its-time-for-a-new-discussion-of-marijuanas-risks.html
======
mc32
It’s fair to say that if we think smoke in general is deleterious to
respiratory health and many chemical compounds found in different kinds of
smoke are known carcinogens that marijuana is not exempt from those
troublesome characteristics.

Given its potential harm as well as benefits in health, it’s worthwhile that
people in general as well as proponents for liberalization, myself included,
know more about all its effects. We as a population would be better served if
there were a middle ground between it’s and evil gateway drug and it’s a cure
to many ailments and should not be regulated.

~~~
__blockcipher__
I disagree. If you read the literature you will find cannabis smoke,
physically, is stunningly non-harmful and not associated with much more than
perhaps a slightly higher chance of respiratory infection.

Whereas tobacco is ridiculously deleterious and causes oxidative damage
directly iirc.

I used to think it was all about smoke inhalation but it’s not that simple.

That being said, obviously I agree that we need to study the effects of
cannabis as much as possible.

~~~
acct1771
Lighting shit on fire produces carcinogenic material.

That's about all the science on MJ smoke (vs vapor etc) that I really need to
know.

~~~
thatcat
Heat is well known to cause cancer, including in the form of hot beverages;
but the contents of smoke aside from CO2 and H2O depends entirely on the
source of combustion.

~~~
dTal
I'd not heard this about heat. It doesn't seem like an entirely
straightforward link to me - aren't saunas supposed to _fight_ cancer?

~~~
thatcat
Since cancer is caused by certain mutations and heat can induce mutation,
ingesting hot things can be mutagenic and thus carcinogenic.[0]

Saunas at the right temp for the right time can induce the expression of
protective heat shock protiens.[1]

[0][https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773211/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773211/)

[1][https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/reasons-sweating-far-
often/](https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/reasons-sweating-far-often/)

------
scarface74
Whatever the risks of marijuana are, they pale in comparison of the harm done
by the "War on Drugs" aka the "War on Poor People and Minorities". Anything
that takes power away from the criminal "justice" system to lock up people for
non violent offenses, I'm all for it.

~~~
jshaqaw
True but respectfully not the point here. Post the drug war on marijuana (a
day rapidly arriving) it is reasonable to look at things objectively, consider
the possible risks, and make an informed decision on whether to partake. Just
because the old anti-pot propaganda was so false and awful doesn’t mean every
possible risk is a lie.

~~~
scarface74
There are lots of risks to marijuana and I never had any desire to have it in
my system. I dread the thought of it becoming normalized. But we have seen the
alternative. Hopefully, it will become legal like cigarettes but with people
knowing the risks.

------
maxander
HNers interested in this topic are liable to be interested in SlateStarCodex's
treatment of it: [http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-
tha...](http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-than-you-
wanted-to-know/) .

tl;dr; according to the author's "Irresponsible Utilitarian Analysis," the
statistically dominant factor in whether widely-legalized marijuana would be a
net benefit or harm to society is its impact on driving. Since cars are, for
most of us, the most dangerous thing in our lives, this probably makes a
decent amount of sense.

~~~
OscarCunningham
I find it funny that he doesn't consider the benefit of people who want to use
cannabis being able to use cannabis. That seems like it should be the main
advantage!

