Blunt Smokers Link Dependence Potential To Nicotine

[Midnight toker]

Blunt Smokers Link Dependence Potential To Nicotine

Medical News Today
29 Sep 2006

According to a study by researchers at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI) users of blunts (tobacco cigar shells filled with marijuana) do not understand or experience marijuana dependence in terms of conventional clinical criteria. Rather, they associate clinical symptoms with "harder" drugs such as heroin, crack, cocaine and nicotine. However, many suggested that blunts may have addictive potential because they contain tobacco (nicotine). This finding suggests that future studies on cannabis dependence should be designed to include blunts.

The results of this study have been published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy. (Eloise Dunlap, Ellen Benoit, Stephen J. Sifaneck and Bruce D. Johnson. Social constructions of dependency by blunts smokers: Qualitative reports. The International Journal of Drug Policy 17(3) 2006:171-182.)

The NDRI study involved in-depth interviews with 92 users of blunts and cannabis in other forms (joints, pipes, bongs, etc.) in New York City. Respondents ranged in age from 14 to 62, and were racially diverse: 43% white, 40% Black and 15% Asian. Nineteen percent identified themselves as Latino/a, and 43% were female.

When asked if they think blunts are addictive, respondents were evenly divided between affirmative and negative responses. In explaining their answers, many cited the role of tobacco, without prompting. Of those who said they think blunts are addictive, 17% said it is most likely because tobacco, which contains the physically addictive ingredient nicotine, is present in the blunts cigar shell. Among those who said they do not think blunts are addictive, 15% qualified their answers by saying that the tobacco in blunts is addictive, but the marijuana in them is not.

For the most part, respondents did not assess the possibility of blunts dependence in terms that clearly correspond to official clinical criteria. Several users described smoking with increased frequency, but none of them reported developing tolerance, or smoking larger amounts to maintain desired effects.

A growing number of articles in peer-reviewed journals report survey findings that support official definitions of cannabis dependence, yet clinically significant dependence symptoms are relatively rare among cannabis users. Official criteria (such as those in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association - DSM) have been revised in recent years to recognize the subjective nature of cannabis dependence. However, the NDRI researchers argue that the diagnostic criteria may not be relevant to the actual experiences of marijuana/blunts users and that survey methods may not be the best way to capture those experiences.

In particular, surveys do not allow cannabis users to elaborate on the context of their use, particularly settings, which may influence the risk of dependence. The NDRI research team was able to gather such information through the in-depth interviews, but they also conducted field observations of more than 500 individuals during cannabis-smoking sessions in a number of settings. These observations, combined with the interview responses, revealed a system of etiquette based on sharing. The sharing etiquette observed is more complex and involved than sharing norms of previous marijuana using subcultures. Blunt-smoking etiquette includes norms respecting appropriate times and places for smoking, limiting the number of hits one takes before passing a blunt, and contributing to the cost and effort of a blunts-smoking event. The rules are enforced by peer pressure, including the implicit threat of ejection from the group and an argot of demeaning labels for those who violate the norms of sharing.

"Smoking in groups seems to involve conduct norms that discourage compulsive or excessive consumption," said Eloise Dunlap, Ph.D., principal investigator in the study. "If people associate blunts with group settings, they may be less likely to see blunts as potentially addictive." The vast majority (86%) of blunts smokers interviewed said they prefer to smoke in groups. The few who reported occasionally smoking blunts alone said that when they did so they tended to replicate the group practice of taking a few puffs and then putting the blunt out.

Although group conduct norms associated with blunts smoking can encourage more controlled use, the presence of tobacco in blunts may have a countervailing effect. The question of whether tobacco fosters dependence on blunts warrants further investigation and may yield data with significant implications for public-health and prevention messages.

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This study is part of a larger investigation of marijuana/blunts use, subcultures and markets in New York City, funded by the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA13690).

Contact: Patrice Barron
National Development & Research Institutes
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=52838

[palmspringsbum]

Hookah Smoking as Tough on Lungs as Cigarettes

14wfie.com
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter


THURSDAY, Jan. 3 (HealthDay News) -- A leisurely hour of puffs from a hookah -- a kind of tobacco water pipe that's popular among college students -- packs the same carbon monoxide punch as a pack-a-day cigarette habit, a new report claims.

The research only looks at a single toxic gas, making it impossible to directly compare hookah use to the well-known hazards of cigarette smoking. Still, the findings suggest that hookah fans should think twice before lighting that pipe, said study co-author S. Katharine Hammond, chairwoman of the division of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

"This is not the risk-free activity they think it is," Hammond said. "This really isn't safe."

Hookahs, which are similar to the bongs used to smoke marijuana, have grown in popularity in recent years. In college towns and elsewhere, hookah bars have appeared that allow people to smoke the water pipes -- which are legal since tobacco is used -- in a public and social setting.

Users inhale tobacco smoke after it bubbles through water, a process that some people think filters toxins from the tobacco.

One survey suggested that 28 percent of freshmen at a private university had tried hookahs, Hammond said, adding that Chicago alone has dozens of hookah bars.

"This is a worldwide phenomenon," she said. "It's very popular on U.S. college campuses, but most professors are unaware of it."

The new study is the latest research to suggest that hookahs are far from healthy.

Hammond and a student recruited 27 students who smoked water pipes for an hour on three different evenings in April 2006. Another five students didn't smoke the hookahs but stayed in the room with those who did.

The participants abstained from water pipe smoking for 84 hours before taking part in the study; the bowls of their water pipes were filled with water and 10 grams of Al Fakher mu'assal tobacco, then heated with charcoal.

Researchers monitored carbon monoxide in the breath of the participants both before and after the experiment using a machine designed to detect if people are smokers.

The findings were published in a letter in the Jan. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The exhaled carbon monoxide in participants was an average of 42 parts per million, higher than that reported in cigarette smokers (17 parts per million). The study also found that carbon monoxide levels grew in the room where the subjects smoked hookahs and might reach environmentally unhealthy levels, as determined by the federal government, during longer sessions.

Hammond said she can't directly compare hookah use to the smoking of cigarettes, which house thousands of toxic chemicals. And, she said, it's hard to know exactly what hookah use will mean in terms of higher risk of lung or heart disease.

Hookahs "may not give you lung cancer but may compromise your health in other ways," she said.

Thomas Eissenberg, an associate professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies hookah use, said research has suggested that smoking a water pipe for 45 minutes produces 36 times more tar than smoking a cigarette for five minutes. Tar -- or "nicotine-free, dry particulate matter" -- contains the cancer-causing constituents of the smoke, although it's not clear if water pipe tar is different from cigarette tar, he said.

"Occasional water pipe tobacco smoking may carry its own health risks, and it may also be dangerous, because it can lead to daily water pipe use, regular cigarette smoking, or both," he said.

<hr class=postrule>
<span class=postbold>More information</span>

To learn more about the dangers of smoking, and for tips on quitting, go to the American Lung Association.

<small><span class=postbold>SOURCES</span>: S. Katharine Hammond, Ph.D., chairwoman, division of environmental health sciences, University of California, Berkeley; Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D., associate professor, psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; Jan. 2, 2008, Journal of the American Medical Association

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[adamsmith]

so nice bro...nice topic here....there is so many important thing written here...i have some information abt on this is it true or not..Research on the long-term effects of marijuana abuse indicates some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term abuse of other major drugs.

For example, cannabinoid withdrawal in chronically exposed animals leads to an increase in the activation of the stress-response system and changes in the activity of nerve cells containing dopamine. Dopamine neurons are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward, and are directly or indirectly affected by all drugs of abuse.


Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. These withdrawal symptoms begin within about 1 day following abstinence, peak at 2-3 days, and subside within 1 or 2 weeks following drug cessation.
A number of studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia.
One study found that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana, probably because it increases both blood pressure and heart rate and reduces oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.feminized seeds

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[palmspringsbum]

You're full of crap. You haven't cited one source, just regurgitated a bunch of reefer madness proganda.