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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> i AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATh.iNe <br /> ofHa%ai RECEIVED ~ <br /> nme Ay- - = <br /> <br /> POSITION PAPER ON MARIJUANA SMOKING <br /> <br /> <br /> • Mounting evidence by medical researchers indicates that marijuana smoking may <br /> be even more harmful than cigarette smoking. <br /> <br /> • It takes 10 to 20 years of heavy cigarette smoking to produce the same type of <br /> sever sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis or emphysema that less than a year of daily <br /> <br /> marijuana smoking produces. (According to Nicolas A. Pace, M.D., Assistant <br /> Professor of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine.) <br /> <br /> • Marijuana smoke contains 50 percent more cancer-causing materials than tobacco <br /> smoke. (According to Donald P. Tashkin, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, <br /> Pulmonary Division, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine.) <br /> <br /> <br /> • The manner of smoking, particularly the deep inhaling technique by marijuana <br /> users, increases the exposure of dangerous elements to the lungs. The tobacco <br /> smoker is more likely to purchase filtered cigarettes and will not puff the cigarette to <br /> the end. On the other hand, marijuana users usually smoke their cigarettes to the <br /> very end, enhancing and maximizing their exposure to tar and other respiratory <br /> <br /> irritants. (According to Robert L. DuPont, M.D. , President, American Council on <br /> Marijuana, former Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse; President, <br /> Institute for Behavior and Health.) <br /> <br /> • Because of the difference in smoking technique, one marijuana cigarette can deliver <br /> as much tar as a dozen or more cigarettes. In addition, a single marijuana cigarette <br /> smoked for 15 minutes produces as high a level of carbon monoxide in the blood of <br /> <br /> the smoker as 10 to 20 tobacco cigarettes smoked during the course of the day. <br /> (According to Robert L. DuPont, M.D.) <br /> <br /> • Marjuana smoke is much like tobacco smoke with two exceptions. First, marijuana <br /> does not contain nicotine. Second, it contains the psychoactive agent THC (delta-9 <br /> tectrahydrocannabinol); tobacco does not. (THC has mild bronchodilatory effects, <br /> <br /> but it is not useful as a drug for bronchospasm.) (From Set. 1980 American Lung <br /> Association Bulletin article "Marijuana Smoking-A National Epidemic" and Hawaii <br /> Thoracic Society.) <br /> <br /> Approved by the Hawaii Thoracic Society q <br /> Revised 02/96 / d3 <br /> M10 Comm. No. <br /> File No. USG <br /> Pr•s•nfed FC <br /> Idef. 1tr~: <br /> 'N1 7 )s, tb <br />