The effects of smoking marijuana, the good and the bad.

Vincent Weitoish

Biology Report

Withrow - 1st

Biology

Is pot good for you?

Well, no. But the latest research suggest that health risk from occasional use is mild and it might ease certain ills.

No one has ever died THC poisoning mostly because a 160 pound person would have to smoke roughly 900 joints in one sitting to reach a lethal dose. But that doesn't mean pot can't contribute to serious health problems and even death -- both indirectly and directly.

Marijuana may directly affect the immune system, since one of the bodies to known receptors for cannibinoids is located in immune cells. But the nature of the effect is unclear. A recent study showed the THC inhibits production of immune stimulating substances. But cigarette smokers may do greater harm to their immunity than pot users, who tend to smoke less. A study published earlier this year found that tobacco smokers but not marijuana smokers had high levels of a type of enzyme believed to inflame the loans. Dr. Donald Abrams, proficient of clinical medicine that the University of California, San Francisco, found short-term cannabis used dozens of Stanley raise viral loads of HIV patients people with HIV sometime smoke marijuana to stimulate appetite. In fact, his study participants to smoke pot enjoyed significantly higher increases in their lymphocytes than those who took a placebo.

Smoking marijuana elevates the risk of head and neck cancers. The latest research suggest that THC may have a duel affect, promoting tumors by increasing free radicals and simultaneously protecting against tumors by playing a beneficial role in a process known as programmed cell death.

There are many more pros and cons of smoking marijuana and many more are being found each day.