A "dangerous" lack of awareness about smoking cannabis could be putting millions of people at risk, a leading charity warned today.
Most people (88pc) believe smoking cigarettes is worse than cannabis but in fact the risk of developing lung cancer is 20 times greater from a cannabis joint than a legal tobacco cigarette.
A new report from the British Lung Foundation (BLF) claims there is an alarming disconnect between the public perception of cannabis as a relatively safe drug, and the serious, even fatal impact it can have on the lungs of people who smoke it.
Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "It is alarming that, while new research continues to reveal the multiple health consequences of smoking cannabis, there is still a dangerous lack of public awareness of quite how harmful this drug can be.
"Young people in particular are smoking cannabis unaware that, for instance, each cannabis cigarette they smoke increases their chances of developing lung cancer by as much as an entire packet of 20 tobacco cigarettes."
According to the BLF survey, 6.8pc of 16 to 59-year-olds in England and Wales have used cannabis in the past year - approximately 2.2 million people.
This makes cannabis the most commonly used illicit drug in the UK.
Source: Independent.ie, 06/06/2012
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
