Smoking marijuana raises cancer risk, may pose potential harm to future children | – Times of India

Whether it is peer pressure or the allure of a fleeting thrill, it’s time to reconsider smoking pot. According to a new paper published in the scientific journal Addiction Biology, Cannabis consumption can cause cellular damage, significantly increasing the risk of cancerous tumours. The study describes cannabis as a ‘genotoxic’ substance that can damage a cell’s genetic information, leading to DNA mutations, accelerated aging, and cancer.

The adverse effects of cannabis do not end there. This genotoxin can be transmitted via damaged egg and sperm to the user’s offspring. In a recent publication in Addiction Biology researchers from The University of Western Australia found a link between the established knowledge that cannabis use damages cellular energy production by inhibiting mitochondria. A new cancer research published in the Science shows that mitochondrial dysfunction drives chromosomal damage, resulting in increased rates of cancer, accelerated aging, and birth defects.

Dr. Stuart Reece and his colleague from The University of Western Australia were inspired by recent research published in Science that found out that dysfunction of mitochondria results in chromosomal damage, and raises the risk of cancer, and also accelerates aging and birth defects.
Though the studies published in the Science were not conducted in the context of cannabis use, it gave a new mechanistic insight that cannabis use causes both mitochondrial and genetic damage.
The article in Addiction Biology placed older research on cannabis into context and suggests that cannabis-related genotoxic damage may be all around us, though we don’t see it largely.

Dr. Stuart Reece, who is the co-author of the paper stated that there are ‘far-reaching consequences’ between the use of cannabis and genotoxicity. “The link we’ve described between cannabis use and genotoxicity has far-reaching consequences. This new research shows how genetic damage from cannabis use can be passed down the generations. This should reframe the discussion surrounding cannabis legalization from a personal choice to one that potentially involves multiple subsequent generations,” Reece said in a press release.
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