The results are in from a 20-year study of marijuana smokers; Smoking pot does not harm the lungs! I know it sounds crazy, but apparently this is only true for those of us who only smoke about once or twice a week. Sadly, I don’t fall into this category, but there is still some good news for those os us who enjoy medicating on the daily:

The results, from the 20-year study on the health effects of marijuana, are hazier for heavy users — those who smoke two or more joints daily for several years.

The data suggest that using marijuana that often might cause a decline in lung function, but there weren’t enough heavy users among the 5,000 young adults in the study to draw firm conclusions.

A small decline does not discourage me from using marijuana, especially because most everything in our body tends to decline with age. It’s the chemicals in cigarettes that really do the harm, and seeing as marijuana and tobacco only share a few of the same chemicals, the results differ.

The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings echo results in some smaller studies that showed while marijuana contains some of the same toxic chemicals as tobacco, it does not carry the same risks for lung disease.

Awesome, let’s go roll a blunt and enjoy our lives.

***Unlike cigarette smokers, marijuana users tend to breathe in deeply when they inhale a joint, which some researchers think might strengthen lung tissue. But the common lung function tests used in the study require the same kind of deep breathing that marijuana smokers are used to, so their good test results might partly reflect lots of practice, said Kertesz, a drug abuse researcher and preventive medicine specialist at the Alabama university.***

Related articles

• Study: No lung damage from marijuana (boston.com)
• Study: No lung danger from casual pot smoking – CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• UCSF Study Finds Pot Smoke Less Harmful Than Tobacco (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)
• Kush Chronic-les: Study Finds Smokin’ That ‘Mary Jane’ Does NOT Hurt Your Lungs (bossip.com)
• STUDY: Marijuana Doesn’t Harm Your Lungs After All (huffingtonpost.com)
• Marijuana doesn’t harm lung function, study found (disclose.tv)