Marijuana Smoking Not Harmful to Lungs, New Study Finds in JAMA

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Marijuana smoking is not harmful to a person’s lung capacity, according to a recent study conducted on pot smokers.

The study was published this week in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This research is based on one of the largest studies to be conducted by marijuana users and its results showed that users who smoked a joint a day for seven years or once a week for 20 years maintained their optimum lung capacity.

Other recent studies correlating pot smoking and lung capacity have been somewhat contradictory with results varying from it hurting lung capacity to smoking actually improving it. The subjects used in the research consisted of 5,100 men and women during a 20-year period.

Even though the results of this research seem to prove that marijuana does little to no damage to lung capacity, these tests aren’t exactly a nudge for the public to get high.

“Marijuana is a complicated substance, and for people who are thinking about what they’ve done in the past or are thinking about using marijuana believing it can help medically their decision should not be based on lung consideration,” said study co-author Dr. Stefan Kertesz, researcher and primary care doctor at University of Alabama at Birmingham to MSNBC.

“It’s not a decision about lung health, it’s all the other issues: the risk of addiction, an increase in the chance of having accidents and social functioning,” he added.

Marijuana use is something that is debated within the Christian community. Although it is never directly prohibited by God in the Bible, Christians against the drug cite Gal. 5:20, where the Apostle Paul condemns those who practice sorcery that is translated from original Greek word pharmakeia that means pharmaceutical or drug use.

Christians for pot smoking make the argument that this type of drug use was associated with the practice of pagan religions and therefore it does not prohibit recreational use of the drug.

Christians against it also cite Romans 13: 1-2, which states that believers are to obey the laws of the land and since marijuana is an illegal substance; its use is a sin. The New Testament also advises believers to stay sober minded in order to avoid temptation. These references to sobriety can be found in Titus 2:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 1 Peter 1:13, and 1 Peter 5:8.