The sun: “Quitting ciggies goes to pot” – 10th September 2008
CANNABIS use is the biggest obstacle in getting teenagers to give up cigarettes, a study warned. Smokers are extremely unlikely to quit while regularly enjoying a joint, said a British Medical Journal report. And for some “this may be an insurmountable barrier to quitting”.
This caused predictable outrage on cannabis forums because of it’s anti cannabis slant, but the Sun actually reported something important, and something virtually no other media outlet touched. It should be a major issue for cannabis users, law reform activists and those interested in drug information and outreach services, but it’s one about which almost nothing has been said or done, other than by this very site, UKCIA.
The item the Sun picked up on was reported in rather more measured tones in OnMedica, under the heading “Rethink needed on smoking cessation services“. This was a report on research carried out by Gill Grimshaw from the University of Warwick and Alan Stanton from the Solihull Care Trust who report:
Smokers are extremely unlikely to quit using cigarettes while continuing to smoke cannabis mixed with tobacco, and for some people this may be an insurmountable barrier to quitting
Which is what the Sun said, sort of.
The connection between tobacco and cannabis is well known. Even today, most cannabis users roll joints – basically cigarettes packed with tobacco and a bit of cannabis. Joints don’t have a filter, just a rolled up bit of cardboard called a “roach”. Now, whatever harm cannabis may be capable of causing, smoking it with a known carcinogenic and highly addictive drug such as tobacco can only add – significantly – to those risks, especially with no filter and the smoke being taken in the way it is.
This is something UKCIA, almost alone in the law reform movement, has been highlighting for the past 8 years or more with our Tokepure campaign and it’s something the government has refused utterly to support or even to acknowledge.
For information about stuff like this, young people are supposed to talk to Frank:
You’re also at risk of getting addicted to nicotine if you roll your spliffs with tobacco.
but
Most people mix cannabis with tobacco and smoke it as a spliff or a joint.
and
Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical ‘nasties’, which can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it is often mixed with tobacco.
And that is it as far as Frank is concerned, not a word of advice to use cannabis without tobacco.
Lets be clear about this. The use of tobacco for smoking cannabis is the biggest health risk most cannabis users are exposed to. Even if we accept without question the most strident claims regarding cannabis and mental health, the tobacco issue still comes out on top because it touches just about everyone who gets introduced to cannabis, which usually of course, means young people.
Tobacco is an interesting drug because it is probably the best “mixer” drug out there, it goes well with virtually anything and cannabis is no exception. what makes it different to the issue of smoking and drinking – which before the smoking ban were often thought of as inseparable – is with cannabis the two are used together in joints, not simply at the same time
This means that a novice user will be introduced to cannabis via a tobacco spliff in most instances and the group dynamic will re-enforce the tobacco habit. Tobacco smokers are very defensive as well, people who try to encourage tobacco free use are often accused of “forcing their opinions of us”, or “being against the freedom of choice”. These are all arguments UKCIA is very familiar with sadly.
Tobacco is often thought of as having no effect because it doesn’t lead to intoxication, but in truth it’s far from benign. Tobacco has the effect of making you feel good about having smoked it – add this feel good factor to the “stone” of cannabis and we have something very appealing. Hence tobacco spliffs are not like using pure cannabis, the two drugs in combination give a sensation different to either used separately.
As the researches found in the OnMedica report, smokers who use cannabis will be imune to the anti smoking message, this is at least in part because they probably don’t consider themselves to be tobacco smokers because what they’re doing is smoking cannabis.
Trouble is as well, it cuts both ways. Now addiction is a complex issue, but Tobacco is a strongly addictive drug in a way cannabis simply isn’t; it produces regular and strong cravings in the smoker (“Gagging for a smoke”) resulting in frequent administration of the drug. Cannabis users unknowingly addicted to tobacco as many are will often smoke a joint not to get stoned, but to satisfy the tobacco craving. This of course leads to much higher rates of cannabis use, something which is of particular concern given the debate around cannabis and mental health.
Perhaps the most telling observation is that many people who go through a cannabis using phase stop using cannabis, but are left with a tobacco habit.
This is an issue which had been debated over and over on cannabis forums as a result of the UKCIA Tokepure campaign and some myths have come to light, in particular:
* Joint rolling is an important part of cannabis culture – maybe it was, but it doesn’t need to be. This argument is rarely used now actually.
* Tobacco “pads out” the cannabis and makes it last longer- This is the view most strongly put forward and it’s just plain wrong. Feedback to UKCIA and on cannabis forums indicates people who smoke pure cannabis nearly always use less cannabis than tobacco users and that use becomes far less habitual.
* The right to smoke tobacco is a matter of free will – it’s not, tobacco is highly addictive physically.
What we need is a safer use campaign targeted directly at cannabis users with the specific aim of ending this tobacco using culture, but the government is utterly against such a move for reasons which are hard to understand.
This is an issue which isn’t going to go away and needs to be addressed urgently. It’s the simplest and perhaps even the most obvious bit of harm reduction advice going, advice which would touch millions of people who the government claims to be concerned about and which would prevent hundreds of thousands of young people taking up tobacco.
There is one other reason to do a tobacco free cannabis campaign, and that’s to do with cannabis cessation itself. Breaking the cannabis/tobacco habit is way, way harder than breaking either alone. This isn’t news actually, stopping any drug is easier if it’s in isolation – a one step at a time approach.
In UKCIA’s view there really is no argument against a safer use campaign, and the fact that such a campaign is needed urgently. Sadly it’s not on the agenda for now, instead the emphasis is on stiffer if unenforceable laws, sending out messages and daft stuff like that. Instead of discouraging the smoking of joints, the government is seriously thinking of banning the sale of pipes. Stop and search makes it more risky to carry such things, again making it less likely people will move away from joints. Perhaps we might be seeing a recognition of the issue at last, but don’t hold your breath.
UKCIA would appreciate feedback about our Tokepure campaign, and help to develop it into something better. If the government won’t do it, it’s time for a bit of DIY harm reduction.
You raise some important points – as a tobacco and cannabis smoker (tobacco a few years before cannabis I might add!) I’d like to expand on one point:
The right to smoke tobacco is a matter of free will – it’s not, tobacco is highly addictive physically.
As a tobacco smoker I realise that it’s harmful to my health, highly addictive and habit forming, but I choose to smoke regardless. I recognise that I am addicted, and have the free will to choose whether or not to do something about that addiction. Of course each individual craving for a smoke goes against my free will to an extent, but at any time I have the free will to choose to try to stop, though I’m not disputing that actually stopping would be hell!
Going slightly off topic here, one thing thats interesting to note is the difference between criminal and public health matters and how it personally affects me. Recent prohibitionist style legislation on tobacco (smoking in public etc.) angers me in much the same way other drug prohibition does, whilst the many public health campaigns against tobacco smoking are beginning to influence me towards wanting to quit in the near future (anti-smoking campaigns on TV, warning messages on packets, warning photos on some European packets, etc.)
Ian,
You are an excellent candidate to try a vapouriser or (somewhat cheaper) e-cigarette. (There are websites where users report success in eliminating the cigarette habit in this way.) The vapouriser permits using the same tobacco you prefer, but escaping the carbon monoxide and 420 other combustion toxins. The e-cigarette (developed in China) vapourises liquid nicotine out of an insertable cartridge (they cost about L1 each).
You should think of your right to consume nicotine as a practical matter and go about satisfying it in a least harmful way. Besides, though the laws are slow to catch up with the situation, it is presently assumable that you can get away with vaping some nicotine many places where smoking would be instantly objected to!
My view is that you are missing something if you mix cannabis with tobacco– the wonderful taste of the cannabis. Worse, that makes it harder to detect if there are adulterants added by a treacherous smuggler. The vapouriser solves this problem too. And, if somehow you can get liquid THC and load it into a cartridge instead of nicotine…
I have contributed a number of other technical details which may interest you to the forum under “Additions to Toke Pure Section”.
“What we need is a safer use campaign targeted directly at cannabis users with the specific aim of ending this tobacco using culture, but the government is utterly against such a move for reasons which are hard to understand.”
I take issue with the last part, having examined the issue from the political end. Governments are addicted to the tobacco tax revenues, which they use for roads, school and all the other good stuff which voters expect them to provide without raising the tax rate (on normal folks that is. Tobacco addicts are presumed guilty and no one cares about socking them for more taxes. Result: cigaret smuggling).
If cannabis were legalized and no one henceforth worried about being arrested for having a single-toke utensil, or having their L300 vapouriser confiscated, etc., what would happen to the hot-burning overdose nicotine cigaret industry? Activists would speedily fan out like Mormons across the world and convert all the overdose addicts to harm reduction devices; cigaret sales would drop like Lehman Brothers stock, and the politicians would be like speculators up a creek without a portfolio.
Hi Tokerdesigner
Yes, I have seen your comments on our forum, and thanks.
Tokepure will get an update soon, I’m still hoping for more feedback yet.
Hi Tokerdesigner,
I don’t think I explained my point as well as I could have. Although I am addicted to nicotine, it’s the actual smoking itself that I enjoy. If I decided I wanted to quit smoking, then of course there are other ways to get the nicotine without inhaling the smoke – patches, chewing gum, e-cigarette, etc.
(I couldn’t even begin to explain why I like ‘smoking’, it’s just something I enjoy – whether its a cigarette or a joint!)
I know I’m missing something with the non-pure joints – there’s a variety of reasons, all of which I’m sure could be argued against! I will at some point change to smoking pure joints – maybe when the weed supply is a little more constant – but for now it’s a bad habit I can accept 🙂
To be honest though, even if I was smoking pure joints, I don’t think I’d stop smoking cigarettes the rest of the time at work, in public and visiting family etc.
p.s. I’ve always wanted a vapouriser but have never got around to buying one!
Thanks for responding, Ian. If smoking itself is what provides the benefit, there are many areas for adventure and discovery, without the cost of a vapouriser. Particularly the single-toke utensil, by which is meant a screened crater so small (1/4″ diameter, 3/16″ screen depth) that it admits 25-mg. servings. Merely, the herb must be sifted beforehand as described in “Additions to Toke Pure”. Since reading up on vapourisers I have been trying this myself: revolve the lighter, with moderate flame, around the outside of the crater, while drawing slow like a hatha yoga expert. The idea is to heat the metal (if you used a socket wrench or a hose nipple) and not be in too big a hurry to set everything on fire. After inhaling the vapors, breathe in and out of a sack at least 30 times. More on this later, my computer time at this library is running out.
Corrections to Sept. 22 posting: “revolve the lighter around the outside of the crater” refers to the metal (or glass if you have one) head in which the quarter-inch diam. crater is located. Your utensil should also have a long flexible draw-tube. I am still not up on scanning/jpg tech but eventually will post illustrations.
VAPOURISER CAFE
In a letter posted on the
HOLE-IN-THE-WALL-CAFE website i have mentioned the idea of a “Vapouriser Cafe (or clinic)” where, without bringing along the money to actually buy something for L100’s, you can purchase a BYOH demonstration, vapouriser, e-cig or single-toke utensil tutorial, or participate in seminars, discussions about non-hot-burning-overdose alternatives, etc., all of which feature ways to avoid mixing herb with tobacco.
CAPTIVE POPULATION OF MIXERS
Unfortunately it is necessary to say that the UK and parts of Europe are endangering the entire cannabis-using world by harboring a large sucker population of “mixusers” who, by adulterating cannabis with the worst of all adulterants (the sin of adulteracy), forfeit their ability to discern by taste test whether the cannabis has been doctored by tricksters, thus providing a lucrative and tempting target for shekelgrubbers and malicious political agents.
POLITICAL DIRTY TRICKS
Re the latter: it should not escape anyone that if health complaints related to polluted cannabis can be successfully blamed on the “dreaded skunk” (it’s “too strong” etc.) this fits in the Big Tobackgo strategy of discrediting and demonizing a potential rival for purchasers’ money, and, even more important, putting vapourisers, e-cigs and single-toke utensils (i.e. everything non-overdose) in a shady area of “prosecutable as cannabis paraphernalia” so that large populations will abandon hope of using safe equipment and settle for the cigaret papers as heretofore. So I would not be surprised to find that tobacco companies secret/cigaretly subsidize sneaky abusers of the marketed cannabis product in UK and elsewhere.
BLUNT DECEPTION
Worth mentioning that since the 90’s in the USA “rap” stars with tobaccular names like “Tupac” and “Cool L.J.” have mentioned the practice of rolling “blunts” in their song lyrics. A 1996 NY Times article on tobacco industry manipulations in media quoted a 15-year-old girl saying, “Tupac was my man ‘cuz he was a smoker.” The object is to get youngsters to buy a cigar, discard the tobacco filler (perhaps assuring themselves they’re not mixing with tobacco) and roll a gram of riefer in the tobacco-leaf cigar skin, which of course also contains nicotine. Then, maybe weeks later, that youngster needs to stay awake all night cramming for a school (-kool) test, and thinks, Well, I’ll try a cigarette like the cool kids do. That’s where the fatal fetal habit then appears to originate; the “blunt” consumed weeks earlier (and the hanging around in a tobacco-smoke-contaminated apartment waiting to meet someone to buy riefer etc.) are all conveniently forgotten.
BATFECES
For decades we’ve been letting a big predatory corp parade around worldwide under the name “British American Tobacco Company”. Some children doubtless fall for the ruse and believe this implies that the nations so named in some way endorse or permit the marketing of nicotine addiction. Someone should needle the PM to have this collusion in genocide investigated, and give it at least equal time to his anti-cannabis campaign. (Not only opium did the Brits addict the Chinese on in the 1800’s.)
ODIOUS COMPARISON
If WHO correctly estimates (Feb. 7, 2008) that tobacco kills 5.4 million a year (and rising), and if for sake of argument, we estimate 5% of all addicts worldwide were roped in through the admixture of tobacco into cannabis, then the share of deaths would be 270,000 yearly, or about three Hiroshimas. Meanwhile, despite the nuisance and some illnesses, there is not yet one report anywhere on the net of a single case of anyone actually dying from a dose or repeated dosages of cannabis tainted with any non-tobacco contaminant. PRIORITIES, PLEASE.
I smoked cigarettes heavily for a few months before I started university and I know I was very much addicted.
While at uni I started smoking weed (not for the first time, but regularly) and soon after that I quit cigarettes.
I still smoke joints, because I prefer the effects of cannabis when mixed with tobacco, but I’ve found that I’m no longer addicted to nicotine. At least nowhere near to the degree that I was before.
When I only smoked cigarettes, I couldn’t go a few hours without one. Now that I only smoke joints, I can comfortably go weeks without smoke. I’ve no physical problems and, at the most, a little grumpiness for a couple of days.
I don’t know the significance of this, but it seemed relevant.