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CANNABIS
SO
YOU THINK CANNABIS IS SAFE
There are serious health risks
from smoking cannabis. Many cannabis smokers also use tobacco,
so the risks are in addition to the harm caused by smoking tobacco.
Is
cannabis addictive?
Nicotine is more addictive than
cannabis. But a recent study found that when abstaining from
cannabis for just three days, regular users had withdrawal symptoms,
cravings, decreased appetite, sleep difficulty, weight loss, anger,
irritability and restlessness.
Dangers
for young people.
The younger someone starts using
cannabis, the more likely that person is to experiment with other
drugs. Also, regular cannabis users often lose interest in
their studies & work. The effects of cannabis can interfere
with learning by impairing thinking, reading and comprehension,
verbal and mathematical skills. Studies show that young people
do not remember what they have learned when they are’ high’. Cannabis
also changes the way in which information gets into the brain’s
system for learning, memory and emotions. Cannabis also contributes
to mental health problems.
Is
smoking cannabis less harmful than tobacco?
Smoking three cannabis cigarettes
is as dangerous as smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes. Cannabis smokers
draw more smoke, inhale more deeply and hold it in the lungs longer.
Cannabis cigarettes have no filter and deliver four times
more tar than tobacco cigarettes.
Key
points
None of the 7,000 studies into
cannabis users has shown it to be safe.
Cannabis contains more than 400
chemicals including most of the toxins found in tobacco smoke but
often in higher concentrations.
Smoking one cannabis cigarette
deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered
tobacco cigarette.
Inhaled cannabis contains three
to five times the carbon monoxide found in inhaled tobacco smoke.
Cannabis smokers have respiratory
problems similar to tobacco smokers, coughs, chest colds and chronic
bronchitis.
Half of regular users have pre-cancerous
changes in the cells of the lungs.
The risk of heart attack is five
times higher than usual in the hour after smoking cannabis.
Cannabis users are more likely
to use other drugs such as cocaine.
Reaction time for skills, such
as driving, are reduced by 41% after smoking one joint and by 63%
after smoking two.
Information provide by Pips project
Tel: 02890 755070
www.pipsproject.com
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