Could Smoking Pot Cut Risk Of Head, Neck Cancer?

[DeSwiss]

Could smoking pot cut risk of head, neck cancer?



Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:05pm EDT


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - You've heard about using marijuana and drugs derived from it to keep some of the side effects of toxic cancer chemotherapy in check. But what if smoking marijuana for 10 to 20 years could actually protect against certain tumors?

In a study, researchers have found that long-term pot smokers were roughly 62 percent less likely to develop head and neck cancers than people who did not smoke pot. The new study featured 434 patients with head and neck cancers, which include tumors in the mouth, tongue, nose, sinuses, throat and lymph nodes in the neck, and 547 individuals without these cancers seen in the Greater Boston area from December 1999 to December 2003.

After factoring out the impact of smoking, drinking, and other factors that might influence the results, smoking marijuana from once every two weeks to three times every two weeks, on average, was associated with about half the risk of head and neck cancer, compared with less frequent use.

Those who took up pot smoking at an older age appeared to have less risk of these cancers than those who started it at a younger age. Compared to people who never smoked pot, those who began smoking marijuana between the ages of 15 and 19 years were 47 percent less likely to develop head and neck cancer, while users who began at age 20 or older had a 61 percent reduced risk, Kelsey and colleagues found.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE57O5DC20090825">MORE

SOURCE: Cancer Prevention Research, August 2009. ABSTRACT: http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/cgi/gca?sendit=Get+All+Checked+Abstract%28s%29&SEARCHID=1&TITLEABSTRACT=smoking+marijuana+could+actually+protect+against+certain+tumors&FIRSTINDEX=0&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&gca=canprevres%3B2%2F8%2F759">A Population-Based Case-Control Study of Marijuana Use and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma {"10 to 20 years of marijuana use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of HNSCC"}

- This is great news. After http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_surgery">what http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_aortic_aneurysm">I've http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bladder_cancer">been http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endoscopy">through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystoscopy">lately, it's one less thing I'll worry about....
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DeSwiss


http://www.atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox



http://www.dareland.com/index2.html">"No one has ever died from marijuana that wasn't shot by a cop."

[DeSwiss]

1. Kick!

[asdjrocky]

18. I'm putting that on my wall.

[provis99]

2. their maximum dose was 3 every two weeks? this is a bullshit study.

that's like smoking 3 cigarettes every two weeks, and seeing what the result is. These idiots can get back to me when they tell me what the effect is of smoking 40 joints in a day, every day, for 20 years is.

[BB1]

3. Right. I wonder about the same

'cause I've been smoking four to six joints every day for the past ten years. And pretty good shit too, original Dutch White Widow. And I never have headaches, too:)

[Uben]

6. HAs your pot been certified?

In order to qualify your marijuana for test purposes, you need to send me a couple of pounds of it for testing. I do this free of charge and the testing lasts for a period of one year. After the test, I will send you a detailed report on quality and acceptability of the sample.....if I remember.

[BB1]

14. IIRC, you'd need to smoke

200 pounds of weed within 15 minutes to qualify for an overdose. Everything else is just short of the mark.

I think your mailman would be surprised indeed if I found a pound or so and mailed it to you. We've got some pretty nasty weed down here (THC% over 14...) and you'd probably need to lay down after just 2 reefers. But that's me assuming. Just get over here and I'll show you.

[asdjrocky]

19. The Widow is legend here.

[JTFrog]

4. Where does it say maximum? You just made that up.

You took one of the conclusions and made it the study basis?

After factoring out the impact of smoking, drinking, and other factors that might influence the results, smoking marijuana from once every two weeks to three times every two weeks, on average, was associated with about half the risk of head and neck cancer, compared with less frequent use.

"A questionnaire was adopted to collect information on lifetime marijuana use (decade-specific exposures) and associations evaluated using unconditional logistic regression."

Cases (n = 434) were patients with incident HNSCC disease from nine medical facilities in the Greater Boston, MA area between December 1999 and December 2003. Controls (n = 547) were frequency matched to cases on age (±3 years), gender, and town of residence, randomly selected from Massachusetts town books. A questionnaire was adopted to collect information on lifetime marijuana use (decade-specific exposures) and associations evaluated using unconditional logistic regression.

After adjusting for potential confounders (including smoking and alcohol drinking), 10 to 20 years of marijuana use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of HNSCC . Among marijuana users moderate weekly use was associated with reduced risk (OR0.5-<1.5 times versus <0.5 time, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32-0.85). The magnitude of reduced risk was more pronounced for those who started use at an older age (OR15-<20 years versus never users, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30-0.95; OR≥20 years versus never users, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.17-0.90; Ptrend < 0.001). These inverse associations did not depend on human papillomavirus 16 antibody status. However, for the subjects who have the same level of smoking or alcohol drinking, we observed attenuated risk of HNSCC among those who use marijuana compared with those who do not.

Our study suggests that moderate marijuana use is associated with reduced risk of HNSCC.

[DeSwiss]

9. Thank you.

:D - I good to know there are a few of us still out there who read.

[slay]

5. Mmmm I can just feel the cancer cells vanishing

no really.. i can.. wait.. did the dog just say something?.. no no.. it's alllll good. Legalize it! :smoke:

[malaise]

7. Holy Shite

This should mark the end of head and neck cancer in Jamaica. :evilgrin:

[Echo In Light]

8. That just became my new sig line

:thumbsup:

[Better Today]

10. Interesting study. Pic of baby smoking a doobie, completely disgusting.

Unrec'ing because of pic

[DeSwiss]

17. I'll consider myself duly admonished....

...because everyone has their own standards of decency. It is your right, and I respect that. However, as Frank Zappa once remarked: "My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can."

- Like I said, everyone's got their own standards....

[ddeclue]

11. NO n/t

[Occulus]

13. Sorry to burst your bubble, Drug Warrior, but chemicals in cannabis have a necrotic effect on

cancer cells.

This has been known for some time now.

[DeSwiss]

15. Precisely.

The below research links are to articles, scientific studies and abstracts which report that the tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinoids in marijuana can halt the spread the MRSA bacteria and numerous other types of cancer cells -- including:

MRSA: http://www.webmd.com/news/20080904/marijuana-chemicals-may-fight-mrsa

Prostate Cancer: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T36-3XFTGPR-X&_coverDate=09%2F24%2F1999&_alid=422767905&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=4938&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1c29920efb1acb800723560310e9004e

Breast Cancer: http://mct.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/11/2921

Lung Cancer: http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v27/n3/abs/1210641a.html

Pancreatic Cancer: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/13/6748

Brain Cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16804518

And in addition to the cancer research, here's a report from an Austrailian newspaper about a French study that found that cannabidiol in marijuana may prevent the development of prion diseases such as BSE because it inhibits the accumulation of prion proteins in infected mice and sheep. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22430980-23109,00.html

- Most of these studies were funded by foreign governments and/or foundations over the past 10 years. The current US research efforts (for lack of a better term), is barely playing catch-up at this point. Its been that way for some time, since all research here has previously been quashed.

[redqueen]

21. Thanks.

It's sad how much of this is ignored / blown off by people here.

Why? Cause it's DEMON WEED!

Just goes to show how well brainwashing works.

[redqueen]

12. I heard about something similar last week...

apparently cannabinoids inhibit the failure of apoptosis, which is involved in the growth of cancer cells.

[DeSwiss]

16. Check post #15 above.

;)

[asdjrocky]

20. Probably BS... but it's still good for some peoples heads.

I would be one of those.

By the way, I know that's a photoshop and everything, but it's a disgusting picture that will win not one heart or mind. I'm very, very 420 friendly, and I'm bothered by the pic. Just my take.