Smoking marijuana once a week can cause coughing, wheezing and the production of phlegm, all signs of chronic bronchitis, according to a story by Dennis Thompson in HealthDay citing new evidence review reports.
For the evidence review, researchers led by Dr. Mehrnaz Ghasemiesfe, of the San Francisco VA Medical Center, analyzed data from 22 studies of the effects of pot smoking on lung health.
Pot smoking reportedly doubles a person’s risk of developing a regular hacking cough.
It also triples the risk of coughing up phlegm and suffering from wheezy constricted breathing, researchers found.
“We know that smoke from tobacco and other entities – including burning wood in your fireplace – causes chronic bronchitis, so it’s not at all surprising they found chronic bronchitis in prior marijuana research,” said Dr. Norman Edelman, senior scientific adviser to the American Lung Association.
Edelman said he’s concerned that heavy marijuana use could lead to bigger health problems for those who develop chronic bronchitis.
Meanwhile, Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group supporting reform of marijuana laws, was quoted as saying that, unlike the inhalation of tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke exposure – even long-term – was not associated with the kinds of serious respiratory effects that were often identified with long-term tobacco use, such as COPD, emphysema or lung cancer.
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