Inhaling cannabis without the smoke
Study shows vaporizer delivers marijuana 'safely and effectively'.
Vaporizing cannabis leaves instead of burning them can release the drug's active ingredient just as effectively — while avoiding the harmful toxins inhaled through smoking the drug, according to a pilot study.
Comments
Author's note: A previous 2004 study on the Volcano vaporizer referred to in this story mentions support provided by Storz & Bickel, the vaporizer's manufacturers. In case you're curious, the author of the paper has confirmed that the study was entirely funded by other bodies (NORML and MAPS) and that the manufacturer's support was strictly limited to donating the vaporizers and giving instructions in their use.
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 11, 2007 06:20 PM
What do the researchers say about the other "side effects" of smoking pot? Obviously if they are endorsing medical marijuana they believe that the benefits outweigh whatever downfalls it may present, but I'd like to know what they think about the effects of getting baked on your brain/health.
Posted by: Rennie Lum | May 11, 2007 07:02 PM
I thought the author should know that the leaves are not the medicinal part of the cannabis plant. It's the flowers or buds. The "hairs" the author speaks of are clear stalks and on the top of those stalks are heads. Those are the trichomes and that is where the medicine is. There are very few trichomes on leaves. Leaves are much better for making butter or oil preparations and not for smoking or vaporizing. I do not know of any physician who has recommended marijuana leaves to patients.
Posted by: Degé Coutee, Education Director, PAN | May 12, 2007 12:48 AM
I would be interested in reading more about the vaporizer and the previous study, do you have a link for that article?
Posted by: veronica wilson | May 13, 2007 11:07 PM
I am curious about the use of the vaporiser for tobacoo addicts... would it work efficiently to extract nicotine, and would it reduce the carcinogen load?
On the issue of "getting baked", the Univ of Washington is considering reducing penalties on marijuana possession/use by students to match those for alcohol, in an attempt to remove the implied message that it is better to drink than to smoke pot. There is increasing evidence that getting drunk is, on the whole, worse for both the user and for society than getting "high".
Posted by: Peter Kaczkowski | May 14, 2007 11:02 PM
Dear Rennie
Regarding your point about the side effects of getting 'baked' on cannabis, this study didn't specifically look at side effects, which are well documented elsewhere in the literature. This study did ask participants if they preferred vaporizing to smoking: 14 of the 18 subjects preferred the vaporizer, 2 preferred smoking and 2 had no preference.
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 15, 2007 10:34 AM
Dear Dege Coutee
Your comments regarding the medicinal part of the cannabis plant are correct in that the trichomes on the flowers hold the THC and are the most potent part of the plant.
We were using the term 'leaves' rather loosely to refer to flowers, leaves or any part of the weedy plant that people could smoke. It's also worth noting that, botanically, flowers are specialized leaves.
All this doesn't mean that the leaves do not contain other beneficial (or harmful) compounds and THC in a much lower concentration. The NIDA cannabis supplied for the study is not considered good or reliable quality and often contains leaf, as well as stem and seed.
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 15, 2007 10:42 AM
Dear Veronica
Here's the link to the previous 2004 vaporizer study. It's in the 'external links' section of the story on the right hand side.
http://www.maps.org/mmj/Gieringer-vaporizer.pdf
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 15, 2007 10:44 AM
Dear Peter
As yet i am unsure whether the vaporizer would work for tobacco. Have any readers tried this? The Volcano vaporizer is sold as a device for herbal preparations, and should work on any herbs that have volatile substances that will be vaporized before combustion occurs. Whether or not this is the case for tobacco is an interesting question.
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 15, 2007 10:48 AM
Dear Arran
You express concern about side effects of smoked cannabis "such as lung cancer...". While this is intuitively an attractive assumption (smoking is bad) and basic research has shown some carcinogenic properties of cannabis smoke, in fact there is very little clinical evidence that cannabis smoking is associated with cancer; quite the reverse has been shown in large high quality epidemiological studies (Hashibe 2006).
I agree that alternatives to smoking should be evaluated but we should be careful to be accurate with the evidence around adverse events of cannabis smoke.
Posted by: Mark Ware | May 15, 2007 09:35 PM
Dear Mark
Thanks for your comments, which i have also seen echoed in the blogosphere so am happy to address them here. It's true that while no-one disputes the link between smoking tobacco and lung cancer, there is some debate as to the link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer. In addition to the Hashibe review of cannabis-cancer studies, a study by Tashkin also showed no relationship between cannabis smoking and certain cancers, and that cannabis may even have protective effect. It will take some before the relationship between cannabis and cancer is properly established. Readers wishing to know more may find this review useful.
What has been demonstrated is that smoking cannabis with or without tobacco (as is usual in America compared to Europe where tobacco is usually added) does result in the production of known carcinogens, and that many of these can be avoided by using a vaporizer.
Posted by: Arran Frood | May 16, 2007 02:25 PM
Is there a more info available to use this metodh for ALS threatment.
Posted by: Ari | May 18, 2007 06:22 PM
oh so interesting! I have Asthma....use the Nebulizer
to apply, sometimes formulating desired affect
including Oregano (liquid)
Cannib. and more.
Posted by: Bruce Pitcairn | May 28, 2007 10:00 PM
after more thought, I
may be sugguesting that
Nebulizer Fluid in the
nebulizer may be the tip
of the iceberg. The number
formula`s for the Neb. may
need some investigation. I
find myself making them all
the time and learning as I go. Bruce
Posted by: Bruce Pitcairn | May 29, 2007 02:38 AM
Dear Bruce
-any info on how to use canna with the nebulizer would be very appreciated, I too have asthma and curently use a volcano vaporizer, and while it is signifigantly better then smoking it still has some negative effect.
Also, I have tried vaporizing tabbaco with the volcano, and i think there is some stuff(atleast in the ciggaret tobbaco) that is not meant to be inhaled via vapor, as you release poisons it would seem. at temperatures ranging from 300 up to 400 all seem to be very very dangerous.
Posted by: Ethan daniel | June 15, 2007 06:44 AM
My girlfriend has asthma as well and she keeps on smoking bongs. Do you think a vaporizer would be better for her?
thanks
Posted by: Dan Pabinger | July 5, 2007 06:16 PM
i prefer water bongs: http://www.water-bongs-glass-pipes.com/ really good shop
Posted by: smithy321 | November 13, 2007 05:35 PM
Greetings by Ministry of Cannabis, a marijuana seeds bank, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Posted by: Ministry of Cannabis | November 28, 2007 12:35 PM
If you're afraid of bronchial irritation, do as I do: Ingest mj oil, namely olive oil that has been heated to 325 F before the finely ground mj is added. It still helps my asthma as well as severe pain in my sygmoid colon, which was irradiated by mistake.
Posted by: Morley Young | January 4, 2008 05:25 AM
I have tried to research how much thc vapor condenses and sticks to the lungs when using a vaporizer.Is this "pure thc" that sticks cleared from the lungs quickly or dowes it cause damage to cilia or can it cause bullae etc.I cant find any info on the internet!!
Posted by: bob | May 27, 2008 10:20 PM
Dan Pabinger,
Vaporizers are great to use, very clean air and taste!
Posted by: Dampkring | September 10, 2008 08:38 AM