Say It Ain't So, Capt. Zhang

[Richard Romeo]

from CNN site:
                  Smoking marijuana can cause cancer,
                  California researchers said Friday, and
                  aging baby boomers who have been
                  indulging since the swinging 60s may
                  just be starting to feel its ravages.

                  The report, by Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of
                  the Jonsson Cancer Center at the
                  University of California Los Angeles,
                  adds to evidence that smoking cannabis can have 
cancer-causing effects
                  similar to those linked to cigarette smoking.

                  "Many people may think marijuana is harmless, but it's 
not," Zhang said in a
                  statement. "The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger 
than those in
                  tobacco. The big message here is that marijuana, like 
tobacco, can cause
                  cancer."

                  Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and 
Prevention, Zhang
                  said he studied 173 patients diagnosed with head and neck 
cancer, and
                  compared them to 176 cancer-free control patients.

                  Those who said they habitually smoked marijuana were more 
likely to be in
                  the group with head and neck cancers. And the more they 
smoked, the
                  bigger the risk.

                  "If you smoke a little, your risk increases a little," 
Zhang said. "If you smoke a
                  lot, your risk increases a lot."

                  He said pot-smoking baby boomers should be on the lookout 
for symptoms of
                  head and neck cancer, also very common in cigarette 
smokers and heavy
                  drinkers.

                  "In the '60s, we had very high numbers of people in their 
20s smoking
                  marijuana," Zhang said. "These people are just now getting 
to the ages at
                  which they will get head and neck cancers."

                  Earlier this year, the Institute of Medicine at the 
National Academy of
                  Sciences reported that marijuana could have some medical 
uses, notably to
                  treat pain for some terminally ill patients.

                  But the committee said pills using the active ingredients 
in marijuana were a
                  safer alternative because smoking marijuana can cause 
cancer, lung damage
                  and babies with low birth weights in pregnant women.

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