LIVESTRONG perpetuates health myths about marijuana

Of course THAT marijuana is bad for you... in what Kansas ditch did that schwag grow?

LIVESTRONG, as most people know, is the foundation set up by cancer survivor and 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. It boasts “Dare to Change Your Life”, but based on their article The Health Risks of Smoking Pot, it seems like they’re just recycling old material from D.A.R.E. (the program that brings cops into schools to introduce kids to drugs and encourage them to turn in their pot growing parents.)

The short-term health risks from smoking marijuana are well established. According to both the National Institute on DrugAbuse.com and DiscoveryHealth.com, short-term risks include memory loss, coordination problems, learning and problem solving difficulties, accelerated heart rate, anxiety, paranoia and panic attacks.

Memory “loss” is a bit much – it’s more that you have difficulty with short-term recall, learning, and problem-solving while high.  However, afterwards you suffer no ill-effects to memory and cognition, even with long-term, heavy use.  There are numerous studies backing this up.

When it comes to mood altering recreational substances, Lance endorses the one that CAUSES cancer.

You can become uncoordinated while high, which is why we don’t suggest driving or complicated physical tasks while high.  A minority of those who use cannabis experience anxiety, paranoia, and panic, which is why we suggest that marijuana may not be for everyone.  (Some people can die from exposure to peanut dust, but nobody advocates locking people up over a Snickers bar.  If marijuana makes you paranoid, don’t smoke it.)

An accelerated heart rate, which can last for up to three hours, may increase the risk of heart attack, although the evidence is inconclusive.

That accelerated heart rate is about equal to how much climbing a flight of stairs might cause your heart rate to increase.  The evidence that pot causes heart attacks is inconclusive because it isn’t there.

There is some evidence of a connection between pot and schizophrenia. The NIDA believes high doses of marijuana can produce acute psychotic reactions to trigger schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals.

The pot = schizophrenia claim is being debunked more and more every month.  A ten-year look at mental hospitals in the UK found no increase in schizophrenia and psychosis even as cannabis use skyrocketed.  Another study shows that schizophrenics who use cannabis have better cognitive functioning.  These supposed causal relationships between pot and schizophrenia are difficult to interpret, as you can’t tell whether pot caused the schizophrenia, or the schizophrenia caused someone to seek out pot to self-medicate.

Pot smoke contains carcinogens and irritates the lungs.

Stomach cancer +67%, rectal cancer +53%, lung cancer +46%... let's have another beer!

But does it cause cancer?  No, in fact, long-term pot smokers have lower incidence of head, neck, and lung cancers than non-smokers.  Previous preclinical studies assessing the anticancer properties of cannabinoids have shown that they inhibit the proliferation of a wide range of cancers, including brain cancer, prostate cancer, oral cancers, lung cancer, skin cancer,pancreatic cancer, biliary tract cancers, and lymphoma.

This is something a cancer survivor like Armstrong and his LIVESTRONG foundation should be promoting.  You know, instead of Michelob beer, use of which the Los Angeles Times reports causes cancer:

Compared with people who had less than one drink per week, those who drank daily were nearly three times as likely to get esophageal cancer. Moderate drinkers (who consumed between one and six drinks per week) were 67% more likely to get stomach cancer, according to results published in the new issue of Cancer Epidemiology.

Heavy beer drinkers had a 53% increased risk of developing rectal cancer and were 46% times more likely to get lung cancer. People who imbibed spirits daily had more than three times the risk of liver cancer, more than twice the risk of pancreatic cancer, and a 66% increased risk of rectal cancer. Despite mounting evidence of the benefits of drinking wine, moderate wine drinkers had elevated odds of rectal and bladder cancer.

Most tellingly, the researchers also found a dose-response relationship – that is, the heaviest drinkers were most at risk. Among people who consumed the most drinks for the most years, the risk of liver cancer was nearly eight times higher, and the risk of esophageal cancer was more than seven times as high. The biggest drinkers also had more than double the risk of pancreatic and rectal cancer and a more than 80% increased risk of prostate and colon cancer.

The LIVESTRONG website links to many other sets of mythology about marijuana.  Reasons to Stop Smoking Pot tells us that “Those who smoke pot daily operate at subpar levels at all times”.  (Wow, imagine how many more stories, podcasts, live shows, presentations, websites, and gigs I could produce if only I weren’t operating at a subpar level!  Imagine how much better the Cosmos series would have been if Carl Sagan hadn’t been operating at a subpar level at all times!)

What Are the Side Effects of Pot? warns us that “disruption in career, social and family functioning occurs because of a loss of interest in daily activities” and “reproductive problems may occur, including lower sperm count for men.”  (I’d tell that to Willie Nelson, but his career in country music, touring at age 77, and doting on his seven children and many grandchildren, makes contacting him difficult.)

What Are the Effects of Smoking Pot? tells us “it is possible to become physically dependent on marijuana.”  It’s so darn physically addicting that if you quit cold turkey, you “may experience cravings, insomnia and anxiety.”

Effects from Smoking Pot warns that “high doses of marijuana can lead to paranoia, image distortion or psychosis. Such effects may last several days or weeks….”  Where do I find me some of that pot?

Now it seems these articles are submitted to LIVESTRONG and perhaps not well-edited by their staff.  But Lance Armstrong endorsing alcohol is not an accident.  If he is going to endorse a recreational substance, shouldn’t he endorse one that doesn’t cause – and might even cure – cancer?