…Smoking pot, that is.

Daily What: A 20-year, federally funded study conducted jointly by researchers at UCSF and UAB found that smoking marijuana once a week, or even once a day in some instances, did no long-term damage to the lungs.

While I’ve written before about how pot is bad for our minds, from a Buddhist pov, I certainly am alllll for it getting further fully legalized. It gets smoked either way, it’s not bad for anyone (just ask Ben Harper), it doesn’t cause the aggression that drinking does…and this way we get to tax it and keep it safe and away from schools, and it’s huge for our economy (I should know: it’s been huge for us in Colorado).

One concern: it’s not great for those still developing (you know, children). >>> Ayurveda: Health Pros & Cons of Marijuana.

Excerpt.

According to the study’s authors, one possible explanation for the results may be THC — the active ingredient in marijuana. The compound is known to combat inflammation, and may be responsible for offsetting irritants that cause lung problems.

Dr. Stefan Kertesz, the study’s co-author, also posits that an unintended side-effect of marijuana usage is the strengthening lung tissue as a result of breathing deeply during inhalation.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, researchers found that pot smoking might actually improve lung function. “At levels of marijuana exposure commonly seen in Americans, occasional marijuana use was associated with increases in lung air flow rates and increases in lung capacity,” Kertesz said.

For the rest, click over to The Daily What.

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Relephant: