Smoking marijuana probably leads to lung cancer, just as smoking cigarettes does (in most people, anyway) but the verdict is still out. A large-scale national study suggests low to moderate use of marijuana is less harmful to users’ lungs than exposure to tobacco, even though the two substances contain many of the same components.
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Changes to a single enzyme in the genetic code of the marijuana plant can turn its high-inducing properties into something that’s not psychoactive (handy if you want to use it to make rope, instead of smoke it).
Marijuana and hemp come from different strains of the same plant. Hemp was one of the earliest domesticated plant species (used in China over 6,000 years ago). Today, it’s used to make fiber and oils.
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Researchers used to think that marijuana was the "entrance drug" that lead to taking "hard" drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. But now they think it’s coffee (and if you’re "hooked" on java, be sure to drink it out of a Dreamland mug!) And new research shows that caffeine may help ward off skin cancer.
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In Vietnam, a lot of soldiers smoked marijuana, we assumed in order to make the trauma of war easier to take. Now we know another reason: In a study performed on rats, the researchers found that marijuana does not erase the traumatic experience, but only the development of post-trauma symptoms. Psychologist Irit Akirav says, “We found that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ during which administering synthetic marijuana helps deal with symptoms simulating PTSD in rats."
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