One Cannabis Joint = Five Tobacco Cigarettes

Just a mild drug without severe consequences? If the fact that many researches have shown it affects brain activity, from thinking to learning, attention and planning, learn this: just one cannabis joint has the same effect on the health of your lungs as smoking up to five cigarettes in one go.

A new research made on a pool of 339 adults up to the age of 70, chosen from an ongoing study of respiratory health, assigned the subjects into four different categories: those who smoked just cannabis, at least one joint daily for five years (75); those who smoked tobacco only, a pack of cigarettes daily for at least a year (92); those who smoked both drugs (91); and those who did not smoke at all, either cannabis or tobacco (81).

All the subjects had high definition x-ray scans (computed tomography) of their lungs and they underwent special breathing tests aimed to determine how well their lungs functioned.

Those that smoked both drugs tended to smoke less tobacco, as found by the researchers.

Cannabis smokers experienced wheeze, cough, chest tightness and phlegm, but not emphysema, the progressive and crippling lung disease, encountered in tobacco smokers, either alone or in combination with cannabis.

Still, cannabis harmed the lungs and impeded them from functioning properly. It decreased the numbers of small fine airways, crucial for transporting oxygen and waste products to and from the blood vessels effectively. It also affected the large airways of the lung, hampering airflow, and forcing the lungs to work harder.

The severity of this damage was directly connected to the number of joints smoked, higher consumption being connected to greater damage. The effect of each cannabis joint on the lungs was similar to that of smoking 2.5-5 cigarettes in one go.

This was strongly linked to the manner in which cannabis is smoked: usually without a filter, and at a higher temperature. Normally, the cannabis smoke is inhaled more profoundly and smokers hold their breath longer.