What component of cigarettes are the cancer-causing agents, and how does that...

[joe friday's grrl]

...compare to marijuana? I have a friend who I haven't known long, but who revealed to me that she was a regular, heavy marjuana smoker for 35 years or so before she met me. She has just been diagnosed with cancer, and it's apparently at the base of her tongue. It's operable, and she says her prognosis is good. She also said to me in a message that one of the reason her doctors think she will do well is that she's never smoked cigarettes. Now, I have heard in recent reports that a typical marijuana 'joint' has 20 times as much tar as a tobacco cigarette. So, I'm trying to figure all this out. Is is something other than the tar that causes the cancer?

[jef2086]

Yeah that's the thing, marijuana doesn't have all the extra additives cigs have, it has carbon monoxide arsenic, and all kinds of stuff you find in poisonous substances..basically lots of small doses of stuff that is very lethal when ingested

[Knower of Nothing]

there are hundreds of carcinogens in tobacco products, and are a some in marijuana too, though there has never been a solid connection made between marijuana and cancer.(Research has shown both sides) One thing about marijuana is you smoke maybe one joint a day, whereas cigarrettes are smoked at levels of around a pack a day or more. Marijuana has its danger but from what I've read it is not as dangerous as tobacco
Also, there are healthy alternatives to a joint, namely a vaporizer which vaporizes THC (Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannibinol) below the temperture of combustion thus avoiding the carcinogens within the plant.

But honestly everything causes cancer these days. Links have been made between meat and cancer. And it is weird that despite multiple studies it is still very arguable weather or not marijuana causes cancer.