Yesterday 04:37 PM
(This post was last modified: Yesterday 06:51 PM by C C.)
https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/09/07/mar...tion-50304
EXCERPTS: Marijuana smoke contains known carcinogens, including some nasty ones that can damage DNA. So you'd think smoking pot would be an obvious lung cancer risk. Strangely, it isn't. Now a new study reporting nearly four times the risk has stirred the pot. Sorry.
A long-time friend of mine was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I've known him for 30 years and have never once seen him smoke a cigarette or even smelled cigarette smoke on him. Marijuana is another story. He's a diehard regular.
Of course, this proves nothing. ACSH has long maintained that anecdotes don't equal evidence, especially a single story or case study. Also, about 10–20% of lung cancers occur in people who never smoked cigarettes, for reasons that largely remain unknown, so this story tells us nothing other than that a friend is ill.
Still, it made me wonder: Could smoking marijuana cause lung cancer? Well, this is surprisingly hard to determine. There are “yes” studies and “no” studies, and none of them is definitive. But a new study reporting a nearly fourfold increase in lung cancer among people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) got my attention. Does this have any bearing here?
First, there's a certain irony here. People who wouldn't dream of eating food with trace pesticide residues or drinking from a container made with BPA may have no problem whatsoever deliberately inhaling the combustion products of marijuana. Before getting into the epidemiology, let's start with something we know for sure: Marijuana smoke contains carcinogens. This shouldn't be surprising...
[...] Given how long people have been smoking marijuana, you might think we'd have a better answer by now. We don't. So where does this leave us? Gallagher doesn't prove that marijuana causes lung cancer. But given the size of the study and the magnitude of the association, its results deserve attention.
Does smoking marijuana cause lung cancer? There's still no smoking gun. But there's enough smoke that I'd be reluctant to assume the answer is no.
Bottom line: A chemistry opinion. Chemistry tells us that when almost anything burns, PAHs and other toxins and carcinogens will form. Whether these cause disease is a function of exposure and chemical composition. One can't equate a campfire with a pack-a-day or joint-a-day habit. But intentionally inhaling smoke is far from risk-free. With marijuana, we just don't know how much risk there is... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Marijuana smoke contains known carcinogens, including some nasty ones that can damage DNA. So you'd think smoking pot would be an obvious lung cancer risk. Strangely, it isn't. Now a new study reporting nearly four times the risk has stirred the pot. Sorry.
A long-time friend of mine was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I've known him for 30 years and have never once seen him smoke a cigarette or even smelled cigarette smoke on him. Marijuana is another story. He's a diehard regular.
Of course, this proves nothing. ACSH has long maintained that anecdotes don't equal evidence, especially a single story or case study. Also, about 10–20% of lung cancers occur in people who never smoked cigarettes, for reasons that largely remain unknown, so this story tells us nothing other than that a friend is ill.
Still, it made me wonder: Could smoking marijuana cause lung cancer? Well, this is surprisingly hard to determine. There are “yes” studies and “no” studies, and none of them is definitive. But a new study reporting a nearly fourfold increase in lung cancer among people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) got my attention. Does this have any bearing here?
First, there's a certain irony here. People who wouldn't dream of eating food with trace pesticide residues or drinking from a container made with BPA may have no problem whatsoever deliberately inhaling the combustion products of marijuana. Before getting into the epidemiology, let's start with something we know for sure: Marijuana smoke contains carcinogens. This shouldn't be surprising...
[...] Given how long people have been smoking marijuana, you might think we'd have a better answer by now. We don't. So where does this leave us? Gallagher doesn't prove that marijuana causes lung cancer. But given the size of the study and the magnitude of the association, its results deserve attention.
Does smoking marijuana cause lung cancer? There's still no smoking gun. But there's enough smoke that I'd be reluctant to assume the answer is no.
Bottom line: A chemistry opinion. Chemistry tells us that when almost anything burns, PAHs and other toxins and carcinogens will form. Whether these cause disease is a function of exposure and chemical composition. One can't equate a campfire with a pack-a-day or joint-a-day habit. But intentionally inhaling smoke is far from risk-free. With marijuana, we just don't know how much risk there is... (MORE - missing details)
