New Study Reveals That Combination of Marijuana and Tobacco Smoking Increases Risk of COPD

April 17, 2009 - PRLog -- The devastating health consequences of smoking tobacco are well-known.  A recent study examining a random sample of people aged 40 and over indicates that smoking both tobacco and marijuana may have significant health consequences.

Before this, the combined effects of marijuana and tobacco smoke were less clear.

A team of Canadian and U.S. researchers led by Dr. Wan C. Tan, of the James Hogg iCapture Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, Vancouver, Canada has established that people who smoke both marijuana and tobacco greatly increased their risk of negative respiratory symptoms and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.  

The research compared health histories and symptoms of patients who did not smoke at all to those who smoked marijuana only; those who smoked cigarettes only; and those who smoked both marijuana and cigarettes. These findings were published in the April 14, 2009 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"Smokers who use both tobacco and marijuana are 2.5 times more likely than nonsmokers to have respiratory symptoms and almost 3 times more likely to have COPD, due to a synergistic interaction between marijuana smoking and tobacco smoking,” according to Dr. Tan.

Participants in the study with COPD were also more likely to suffer other health problems including asthma, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.  Findings indicate that anti-smoking campaigns should have a goal of reducing marijuana and tobacco use according to the studies’ authors.

The full article is available at http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/180/8/814

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact: Dr. Wan C. Tan at wtan@mrl.ubc.ca.