“Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross-sectional observational study in a general practice population”

Tobacco use in our country is becoming an unhealthy, popular, addictive product to people across the nation.

Tobacco is in cigarettes and cigars. These products with tobacco contain an addictive substance called nicotine. This addictive substance can enter the bloodstream when chewed on, inhaled from second hand smoke or smoked upon. Inhaled smoke can cause or even worsen symptoms for asthmatics.

Tobacco smoking can destroy normal breathing and the function of the human lungs. After only a few days of quitting smoking, progress of lung function may improve. A smoker may develop a cough known as the “smoker’s cough”. This cough is developed over time throughout a production and buildup of mucus inside the lung(s). This can trouble air sacs in the lungs making it hard to breathe. A buildup of this particular mucus and continued smoking can cause “COPD” which is better known as “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”.

Many scientists have studied the huge health effects of the addicting uses of marijuana and tobacco. In the article “Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross sectional observation study in a general practice population”, the researchers examined marijuana and tobacco use and the associated respiratory symptoms, effects, and lung function of 500 patients who reported significant tobacco or cannabis use. Participants within this experiment who were gathered were teens 18 or older who have smoked before or currently are smokers. The individuals gathered were 250 tobacco only smokers and 250 cannabis only smokers. The individuals selected did not have a history of lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis or asthma because these symptoms would not make the study natural, balanced or fair. As you can see, the participants selected were people without any severe lung diseases prior to the study. 

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I feel that this is a huge aspect towards the outcome of this experiment because normally people who smoke do not think of the risks that come along with smoking. This is important you can lose your life just because of an activity you thought was “cool” or made you “feel good”.  This particular study has my interest because many people around the world do not know, understand or care about the effects of marijuana and/or tobacco product smoke. This study finds that the activity of smoking marijuana can be even more of a risk than smoking tobacco, while some may think otherwise.

Tobacco is still legal all around our nation regardless of its risks of cancer and other lung diseases. Cannabis has its own good uses in the medical fields but is often illegal if a doctor does not prescribe it for medical uses only. The most common prescribed medical treatment use of cannabis is for glaucoma. Prescribed marijuana may also be used for treating nausea from cancer chemotherapy. In my opinion, I believe that tobacco products should not be sold in stores, consumed or smoked due to the respiratory diseases it will cause to mostly every person entitled to smoke.

According to this study, marijuana smokers were particularly surprised about their lung function results. Although tobacco and cannabis use were associated with increased reporting of respiratory symptoms, this was higher among those who also smoked cannabis. Both tobacco and cannabis users had increased damages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with the increased time of smoking.

To conclude, my review of this experimental study on cannabis smokers, tobacco smokers, and the lung effects was a learning experience. Cannabis and tobacco products are the leading cause for respiratory damages to the lungs. These drugs will cause respiratory diseases in the short or long term of smoking them and will have a deadly ending. The air sacs in our lungs are very valuable to our life because we need them to contain fresh, clean air for our everyday breathing. These areas in the lungs will be harmed by the buildup of mucus from tobacco and smoke particles cause a smoker’s cough. In my favor, I believe that the disabilities that tobacco causes should be reasonable enough to make its products illegal.

Click here to read the article. 

Reference:

Macleod J, Robertson R, Copeland L, McKenzie J, Elton R, Reid P. Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross-sectional observational study in a general practice population. Br. J. Gen. Pract. (2015), 65:e89-95.