14 DAY TRIAL // You may get high, but your brain gets down. Cannabis mashes up your brain, affecting brain nuclei even in unborn children, especially the cortex, the brain part involved in thinking, learning, attention and planning. The drug also increases the risk of developing psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia.
But it is more than blown mind: cannabis smoke is much more toxic than tobacco smoke, as found by a governmental Health Canada team. The new study detected 20 times more ammonia, a carcinogen (cancer causing) chemical, and five times more hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxides, connected to heart and lung diseases. Only polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons related to tobacco inducing low fertility had lower levels in the cannabis smoke.
While about one third of the world's population smokes tobacco, in most western countries at least 17 % of the 15 to 34-year-old population has consumed cannabis in the last year, this being the most common illegal drug. A 2006 study pointed that cannabis smoke harms the lungs more severely than tobacco, because it is inhaled more deeply and held in the breathing ways for longer, fact that cancels the fact that a cannabis smoker consumes less cigarettes daily than an average tobacco smoker.
The new research investigated about 20 harmful chemicals, both from the inhaled smoke and the sidestream smoke, delivered from the burning tip of the product and which counted for 85% of the passively inhaled smoke. It appeared that for most chemicals, sidestream smoke had about the same levels as the inhaled smoke, including chromium, nickel, arsenic and selenium.
"The confirmation of the presence of known carcinogens and other chemical is important information for public health", said lead researcher David Moir.
"The health impact of cannabis is often over-looked amid the legal debate. Evidence shows it is multiplied when it is cannabis compared to tobacco. Tobacco from manufacturers has been enhanced and cleaned whereas cannabis is relatively unprocessed and therefore is a much dirtier product. The toxins from cannabis smoke cause lung inflammation, lung damage and cancer", Dr Richard Russell, a specialist at the Windsor Chest Clinic, told BBC News.