Famously, marijuana has been legal here
in Colorado for quite some time now,
but that doesn't mean it
comes without health risks.
There's a new study that found
that smoking marijuana can cause
lung damage and joining us today,
Doctor Paul Coley to talk
about potential side effects.
I get the feeling smoking anything, probably
not the best idea.
So true. I mean, you're pushing those
toxins and carcinogens into your lungs,
but this was a little bit surprising because
it was CT scans of marijuana smokers,
tobacco smokers and non-smokers.
So of course we would expect marijuana
smokers maybe have more lung damage.
Emphysema than nonsmokers.
But what was surprising was that they had
actually substantially more lung damage,
even compared to cigarette smokers.
And so it seems like marijuana smoke exposure
somehow triggers lung damage earlier,
and you may need less of it
in order to have that damage.
That's about what you're smoking there.
There's, there are reasons that what you're
smoking does or doesn't stick around.
Yes. And so it doesn't necessarily
even have to be the, you know,
even the best kind of marijuana that
you're smoking, the purest kind could
cause lung damage and we're seeing not.
Was the damage in the
lungs more inflammation?
We're seeing thickening of the bronchioles,
and this isn't even we don't even know
yet how this translates into cancer risk.
We also know that marijuana,
as it gets into your bloodstream
can of course get into the brain.
That's how it gives you that high.
But that can even cause risk for mental
conditions like psychosis later in life.
OK, now I have another question.
I sort of hog there.
No, you go hoggin. So what about,
does this include vaping?
Cause that seems like that is
more that is how more people are
now ingesting smoke products.
Yes, and in a weird.
Gay vaping, in a way can even be worse
because sometimes what it's dissolved
into the vehicle that carries it in,
can be full of toxins,
can be full of unfiltered particles
that are causing that lung inflammation.
And also, what's really interesting
about marijuana, we smoke it
differently than we smoke cigarettes.
So cigarettes you inhale and you exhale
with vaping or marijuana, you inhale,
you hold your breath a second on.
What that does is it actually opens
up more lung tissue to expose to
those toxins and then you exhale,
and so it can even cause popping up.
The lungs or tearing of the lungs,
essentially we're seeing people
coming in with torn lungs and and
air around their lungs from this.
Gosh, we're of that generation.
Remember the first ads coming out about
the dangers of smoking cigarettes?
Yeah. You know, and and maybe
we're going to be seeing this.
What about this is,
I know off script too,
secondhand smoking.
Like if you're somebody that
you're not the one that's smoking,
but your partner or your friends are
very much. So we're even wondering
how secondhand smoking doesn't just
affect your lungs, the inflammation.
You know, and your risk of impacting
your immune system, but how it can
also affect cognitive development.
So if you've got kids around or
even anyone younger who's growing,
and I often think about adolescence
because it's such a trendy thing.
Yeah, because it's legal.
Just like with alcohol,
sometimes we think that excess
use or even daily use is safe.
And I really want the message here
to be that it's not a safe substance.
It's got a whole host of cardiac
problems that I'm not even
starting to get into today.
But we really need to very much limit
our consumption and if we do use it.
You need to use this,
use it in the safer ways.
Not vaping or smoking
is gonna say more people are using
marijuana now in other ways than it
used to be that I mean 95100% of people
would use marijuana by smoking it.
Now I don't know what the percentage is,
but it seems like many people have
turned to edibles, gummies, etcetera.
So edibles are much better,
much safer one, because you're not
exposing your lung to those toxins.
Your GI tract is kind of filtering
out some of the bad things for you.
The effects actually last
longer with edibles.
So that's the other,
the effect you mean the CBD, THC. Impacts,
yes, because it's more bioavailable.
It gets into your bloodstream slower,
but it kind of lasts a little
bit longer with edibles.
Topicals are very safe way to use it, yes.
If you are gonna smoke it though,
here are some tips.
So. So first of all,
don't use non FDA regulated rolling
papers for your joints because
those papers can be full of all
sorts of substances that are
very harmful when you burn them.
Don't share the joint because we've
got COVID and flu and RSV and all
that other stuff going around and
just be sure to use the least.
As possible, don't inhale and hold it.
I
mean, if you're using it for pain
and for sleep and everything else,
go topicals, go edibles.
I mean this is just not worth the risk. It
did not know that FDA regulated
rolling papers. If they learned
anything today I that's on the list.
It's something else we learned.
Doctor Powell Coley,
good visit with you. Thank you as always.