New Cigarette tax - bring it on (Lincoln: 2014, credit)

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

Indian casinos pay almost no tax at all. There getting a free ride and the Indians are now all billionaires.

I don't know about this. Casinos tend to be owned by one given tribe. I grew up in an area with a myriad of Indian ancestry. One tribe owned the casinos and distributed their massive wealth to 1/16th+ blood. The rest of the tribes (5+) seemed to either live in poverty or assimilate to the "regular" crowd.

[justinbro2002]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

Clearly apples to oranges. I know this is an old argument, but it's still a fact that marijuana is attributed to 0 deaths per year, (not counting indirectly related deaths such as a car accident). Tobacco is what, close to half a million?

0 deaths really? While Marijuana might not have the numbers or the research that Tobacco has but it does cause cancer to some degree containing many of the same carcinogens as Tobacco. There is a lot of cross use among Marijuana users who also smoke cigarettes making it a little muddled about where these smokers got cancer from one or the other or both. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by justinbro2002

0 deaths really? While Marijuana might not have the numbers or the research that Tobacco has but it does cause cancer to some degree containing many of the same carcinogens as Tobacco. There is a lot of cross use among Marijuana users who also smoke cigarettes making it a little muddled about where these smokers got cancer from one or the other or both. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

Whether you want to accept the research finding below or not, I think you'll be hard pressed to find any research that conclusively proves pot causes cancer:

Worth repeating: marijuana decreases risk of lung cancer
As more and more Americans consider the pros and cons of cannabis legalization, many points are worth repeating, and chief among them: cannabis actually decreases the risk of lung cancer.

It’s a counter-intuitive notion, since tobacco smoking causes cancer, marijuana smoking must as well. But as the LA Weekly highlights Monday, it’s just not true. Decades of pulmonary research is in: pot decreases the risk of lung cancer and does not cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

LA Weekly managed to quote one of the nation’s leading pulmonologists, Dr. Donald Tashkin. The professor emeritus of medicine at UCLA once sought to prove pot causes lung cancer, but the evidence forced him to conclude the opposite.

Cannabis tar has more carcinogens than tobacco, but, Tashkin states, “we failed to find any positive association [with cancer].” Instead, “the association would be negative, between lung cancer and the use of marijuana. The likelihood is, that despite the fact that marijuana smoke contains carcinogens, we don’t see the same heightened risks of cancers that we see in tobacco.”

For one, THC, CBD and other cannabinoids have been shown in cell and animal studies to kill cancer.

Tashkin also states that smoking marijuana does not cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) perhaps because “marijuana is a potent anti-inflammatory and suppressive,” he says.

No lung doctor is about to recommend smoking anything. But the science is in. Pot is safer than cigarettes — so why are 750,000 Americans getting arrested for it?

Worth repeating: marijuana decreases risk of lung cancer - Smell the Truth

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Whether you want to accept the research finding below or not, I think you'll be hard pressed to find any research that conclusively proves pot causes cancer:

I don't know, Tule. Not enough research done on it yet. Here's an old longitudinal study.
Marijuana use and risk of lung cancer: a 40-year cohort study. - PubMed - NCBI

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by justinbro2002

0 deaths really? While Marijuana might not have the numbers or the research that Tobacco has but it does cause cancer to some degree containing many of the same carcinogens as Tobacco. There is a lot of cross use among Marijuana users who also smoke cigarettes making it a little muddled about where these smokers got cancer from one or the other or both. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

And a huge number of worse drug users started with marijuana.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

I don't know, Tule. Not enough research done on it yet. Here's an old longitudinal study.
Marijuana use and risk of lung cancer: a 40-year cohort study. - PubMed - NCBI

But, but we are told it does not hurt anyone??????

Humm:

http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/smo...ng-health.html

While this statement focuses on marijuana and lung health, it's important to note that there are other health concerns outside the lungs attributed to marijuana use that are not addressed here, including neurological and cognitive effects.1,2

AS to the claim of fighting Cancer:

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.



“What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially ‘turn off’ the ID-1,” Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.


Smoking marijuana does not help it doubles the risk, as to help you need to combine it with ID-1.

Uh oh, smoking it is a problem cpmpared to Tobacco:

Furthermore, one of the most potent carcinogens in tobacco smoke, benzo(α)pyrene, is present in even greater amounts in marijuana smoke. As marijuana smokers frequently inhale and hold the smoke in their lungs, this increases the amount of tar deposited in the respiratory system by about a factor of four. No wonder, research shows that approximately 20% of regular pot smokers (and it only takes 3 to 4 joints a day) complain of chronic bronchitis, coughing and excess mucus (Tashkin, 2005). https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...a-cause-cancer

Looks pretty dumb to me, to smoke marijuana.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

I don't know, Tule. Not enough research done on it yet. Here's an old longitudinal study.
Marijuana use and risk of lung cancer: a 40-year cohort study. - PubMed - NCBI

There has been a fair amount of research. The study you cite is from a very credible source. Therefore it's arguable. But I would point out that it also concludes with an admission of it being inconclusive:

CONCLUSION: Our primary finding provides initial longitudinal evidence that cannabis use might elevate the risk of lung cancer.

The study quoted in the first link I provided post-dates yours by a couple of years, as well. This doesn't trump yours, but offers the question whether your study was possibly considered in the work of the researcher in my link.

All that said, here's yet another scholarly research report, published by JAMA, that supports the absence of connection to lung cancer:

Observational studies of subjects with marijuana exposure failed to demonstrate significant associations between marijuana smoking and lung cancer after adjusting for tobacco use.
JAMA Network | JAMA Internal Medicine | The Association Between Marijuana Smoking and Lung Cancer:**A Systematic Review

In any case, the kind of conclusive research we are familiar with in tobacco smoke, and many other cause and effect cancer narratives, doesn't exist even after years of speculation and research. If it was an obvious risk that would be clear by now.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by expatCA

And a huge number of worse drug users started with marijuana.

Don't be silly, expat. A huge number of worse drug users started with being bottle fed milk too. Correlation is not causation.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by expatCA

But, but we are told it does not hurt anyone??????

Humm:

Marijuana and Lung Health | American Lung Association

While this statement focuses on marijuana and lung health, it's important to note that there are other health concerns outside the lungs attributed to marijuana use that are not addressed here, including neurological and cognitive effects.1,2

AS to the claim of fighting Cancer:

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.



“What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially ‘turn off’ the ID-1,” Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.


Smoking marijuana does not help it doubles the risk, as to help you need to combine it with ID-1.

Uh oh, smoking it is a problem cpmpared to Tobacco:

Furthermore, one of the most potent carcinogens in tobacco smoke, benzo(α)pyrene, is present in even greater amounts in marijuana smoke. As marijuana smokers frequently inhale and hold the smoke in their lungs, this increases the amount of tar deposited in the respiratory system by about a factor of four. No wonder, research shows that approximately 20% of regular pot smokers (and it only takes 3 to 4 joints a day) complain of chronic bronchitis, coughing and excess mucus (Tashkin, 2005). https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...a-cause-cancer

Looks pretty dumb to me, to smoke marijuana.

Expat, you are out of your depth altogether again here.

For starters, re-read from my quote earlier:

Cannabis tar has more carcinogens than tobacco, but, Tashkin states, “we failed to find any positive association [with cancer].” Instead, “the association would be negative, between lung cancer and the use of marijuana. The likelihood is, that despite the fact that marijuana smoke contains carcinogens, we don’t see the same heightened risks of cancers that we see in tobacco.”

That is, expat, in spite of more carcinogens being present, this research found negative association between smoking dope and lung cancer.

And no, you aren't being "told it does not hurt anyone." As I have repeatedly pointed out in these recurring threads: Yes, there are risks in prolonged overconsumption of nearly anything, including, caffiene, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, nasal spray, a cornucopia of legal pharmaceuticals, household chemicals of every kind, carbon monoxide exhaust you drive in daily, and a bazillion other things.

You don't smoke weed? Good for you. Bet you are in contact with a lot of the other things I list above as having dangerous consequences. Good luck with your survival.

[marino760]

If you're a pot head, smoking pot is the best thing for you since the polio vaccine.