Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jun 2001
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2001 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456

POT DOESN'T CAUSE LUNG CANCER, RESEARCHER SAYS

Also Doesn't Seem To Cause Emphysema Or Birth Defects, Senate Hearing Told

OTTAWA (CP) - Smoking marijuana does not seem to cause lung cancer, 
emphysema or cause birth anomalies in fetuses, a prominent U.S. 
researcher told a Senate committee Monday.

John P. Morgan of City University of New York Medical School said 
heavy marijuana smokers do show some symptoms of lung damage, such as 
coughing, frequent colds and bronchitis, but not the life-threatening 
conditions seen among tobacco smokers.

''We are some 30 to 40 years into this marijuana epidemic and still 
have not seen evidence of pulmonary cancer in marijuana smokers.''

He was speaking before a special Senate committee reassessing federal 
legislation and polices on marijuana.

Morgan said there are reasons to believe the heavy smoker of cannabis 
will not succumb to emphysema, a condition frequent among cigarette 
smokers.

He said cannabis contains just as many harmful compounds and 
irritants as tobacco, but even heavy marijuana smokers - those who 
consume four to six joints daily - don't smoke nearly as much as 
tobacco smokers.

''The critical issue is the amount of smoke inhaled.''

He said marijuana smokers have slightly more respiratory complaints 
than non-smokers, but the difference is so small that it is of no 
practical significance.

Morgan also criticized research purporting to show fetal damage among 
women who smoke marijuana and scoffed at the theory that marijuana is 
a gateway leading to hard drugs.

''Many critics in the United States have decided that marijuana 
incites some biochemical trance that leads people to tramp the 
streets looking for heroin and cocaine.''

But statistics show that most marijuana smokers never go on to other 
drugs, he said. ''There is no gateway, there is no credible gateway 
theory.''

He said prohibition of marijuana only makes young people more 
interested in trying it.

Rates of marijuana use in The Netherlands, where the drug is freely 
available, he said, are lower than in the United States where it is 
banned.

Morgan conceded that marijuana smokers are impaired for several hours 
after smoking.

People who are high should not drive, babysit, mow the lawn or enter 
into marital contracts, he said.

He attributed opposition to decriminalization of marijuana to what he 
called ''the drug-law industrial complex'' in the United States.

''I don't believe anyone should go to jail for using a psychoactive 
substance,'' Morgan told the committee.

The committee's hearings continue.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe