What contains marijuana smoke

29. 05. 2023

Much has been said about smoking harming health. All cigarette boxes warn us about the possibility of cancer. But how is it really? What is the "killer" of our health? And how much does marijuana smoke differ from the tobacco? Lets take a closer look at it. Marijuana as a plant itself has therapeutic effects , however, by improper use, one can induce illness. Although from a technical point of view, cannabis and tobacco smoke are similar, yetthey just differ in several ways.

Both types of smoke contain toxic substances as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), nitrosamine and tar .

Carbon monoxide

It is a colorless, poisonous gas, slightly soluble in water, which is lighter than air. It is also found in small quantities in nature. It is created by incomplete combustion of organic substances and carbon. From a health point of view, it is dangerous because it gets inhaled into the bloodstream, kde will build on hemoglobinwhich is commonly associated with oxygen a thus preventing the transfer of oxygen to tissues and organs. For stronger smokers, 4-7% of hemoglobin is blocked by carbon monoxideého.

Hydrogen cyanide

It is one of the strong poisons that cause cell blocking in the human body . Penetration into the body is fast and occurs through mucous membranes, skin and lungs. It easily penetrates cell membranes. Doses ranging from 20-40 mg / m ³ irritate the respiratory tract and conjunctiva. The lethal dose for humans is 50mg.

Nitrosamine

It is a very harmful substance. It is commonly found in small quantities in food. The food gets about 1 μg into the body, but up to 17 times more by smoking one cigarette pack. It has a large proportion of lung cancer and other organs. In particular, the following nitrosamines are included in cigarette smoke: N-nitrosonornicotine, 4- (methyl-N-nitrosamino) -1- (3-pyridyl) -1-butanone, N-nitrosoanatabine and N-nitrosoanabasine.

Tar

The most dangerous component of smoking is just tar. When smoking, it gets deep into the lungs, where it is stored and caused damage to the self-cleaning ability of the airways and alveoli. It is the cause of cancer due to the content of benzanetracene and benzpyrene ( these are strongly carcinogenic and mutagenic aromatic hydrocarbons. They are produced as a product with incomplete combustion at temperatures of 300-600 ° C).

In marijuana smoke, there are 50% more carcinogens than in the same amount of tobacco smoke. Marijuana smokers expose the body to a greater amount of tar, especially from different types of smoking, compared to cigarette smokers. Marijuana smoke is inhaled deep into the lungs and the smoker tries to hold it there for as long as possible. Another factor in getting more tar into the body is the frequent absence of a filter. It is said that smoking one cannabis joint gets four times more tarin the bodythan one tobacco cigarettesmokes.