In a recent column, Dr. Peter Gott wrote that smoking cannabis causes health problems, even cancer, while admitting that he smokes tobacco, a proven carcinogen.

Dr. Donald Tashkin, a researcher at UCLA, has been searching for the “smoking gun” since the 1970s. Tashkin’s studies identified toxic compounds in cannabis smoke, and he published photomicrographs showing cannabis smoke damages cells lining the upper airways. Yet in California in April 2008, at the National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, I heard Tashkin report his findings that smoking cannabis does not cause cancer.

Tashkin also discussed research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), finding that the more tobacco was smoked, the greater the rate of decline. In contrast, no matter how much marijuana was smoked, the rate of decline was similar to normal. Tashkin’s conclusion is that his and other studies do not support the concept that regular smoking of marijuana leads to COPD.

If Dr. Gott is so wrong about cannabis, how can we trust his other advice? The proper prescription would be to attend next April’s cannabis conference. Patients Out of Time (see www.medicalcannabis.com) presents these conferences every two years. Mary Lynn Mathre, a nurse and the group’s cofounder, is scheduled to be in Madison on Dec. 15 for the combined health committee hearing on the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act.

— Gary Storck, Madison, director of communications, Is My Medicine Legal YET?

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