Ottawa (Canada), Nov 17: A recent study has revealed that marijuana smokers are more likely to develop lung disease than cigarette smokers.

Nowadays, smoking’s harmful effects are pretty well documented, but the distinction between marijuana and tobacco is still a subject of intense discussion and controversy.

While some marijuana smokers contend that using marijuana is healthier than smoking tobacco, numerous studies have revealed evidence to the contrary.

A recent study from the University of Ottawa in Canada found that people who smoke marijuana are at a higher risk of developing lung disease than people who smoke tobacco cigarettes.

In some cases, it may even be more harmful, the study suggested.

Researchers compared the results of chest CT scans performed on 56 marijuana smokers, 57 non-smoking controls, and 33 tobacco-only smokers in the study, which was just published in Radiology, a magazine of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).In contrast to 67 percent of tobacco-only smokers, they discovered that 75% of marijuana smokers had emphysema, a lung disease that affects breathing and can cause shortness of breath.

Paraseptal emphysema, which affects the tiny ducts that connect to the air sacs in the lungs (alveoli), was the most prevalent subtype of the disease in marijuana smokers compared to the tobacco-only group.

Emphysema was shown to be present in 5% of non-smokers, in contrast.

As an assistant professor and cardiothoracic radiologist at the University of Ottawa, Giselle Revah, MD, the study’s author, put it: “Smoking affects the lungs, as we all know. The effects of smoking cigarettes on the lungs have been thoroughly investigated and proven. Almost nothing is known about marijuana.”

The team also discovered that marijuana smokers were more likely to experience airway inflammation than tobacco smokers or non-smokers and that marijuana users were also more likely to experience gynecomastia, or enlarged male breast tissue brought on by hormonal imbalance, at a rate of 38 percent versus 11 percent.

“The extra results of airway inflammation/chronic bronchitis in our marijuana smokers, some of whom also smoked tobacco, suggests that marijuana has additional synergistic effects on the lungs above tobacco,” stated Revah.

Although researchers found little difference in calcium buildup in the heart’s main arteries between the two smoking groups, they called the lung findings ‘worrisome.’

“There’s a public perception that marijuana is safe, that it’s safer than cigarettes, and this study raises concern that this may not be true,” she said. “It could be more harmful than people realize. It may even be causing irreversible damage, but ultimately before we can make any big conclusions, we really need more robust studies.”

Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, stated that the study confirmed suspicions that smoking marijuana leads to damage in airways and air sacs of the lungs, even though Rizzo was not involved in the study.

Dr Rizzo said, “We know that marijuana smoke contains the same carcinogens and toxins and tar that cigarette smoking does, but we really don’t have long-term studies that are similar to tobacco-related studies because marijuana has not been able to be studied because of its illegal nature, the fact that many people don’t admit to what they’re smoking and many people smoke both marijuana and tobacco. So, it’s hard to sort out what is causing what.”