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Show Marijuana is greatest threat to lungs "Marijuana smoking consitutes the greatest single new threat to the health of our lungs in the United States", says Dr. Robert L. Dupont, a spokesman for the American Lung Association. Dr. Dupont, former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, made the statement in the Bulletin of the American Lung Association. "While most new drugs are considered con-sidered dangerous until proven safe, the assumption has been the reverse where marijuana is concerned," says Dr. Dupont. "It has been assumed safe until proven harmful." Dr. Dupont points out that marijuana smoke contains more tar and known cancer-causing agents than tobacco smoke. He presents findings from a study showing that a single marijuana cigarette smoked for 15 minutes produces as high a level of carbon monoxide in the blood as do 10 to 20 cigarettes smoked in the course of a day. "American young people are literally the only population in the history of the world in which large numbers of an entire generation have smoked marijuana," he says in the Christmas Seal publicaiton. "The use of marijuana in other countries does not involve an entire society ; generally its use is limited to either religious groups or social classes that are relatively isolated and looked down on in society." He believes the lung health of this generation of Americans is in jeopardy. R. James Steenblik. president of the Utah Lung Association says, "The thing that strikes me about this is that so many young people are concerned about pollution, worried about the environment, believe in eating only natural foods, crusade against the problems of nuclear energy, and yet continue to smoke marijuana cigarettes. There is a growing body of information about health risks, and we are Irving to get it across to people so thev can have good information before making choices that affect their life. "The Utah Lung Association has printed information available about Marijuana and its use," Mr. Steenbhk savs "As a Christmas Seal service, we will send single copies to those who request it." |