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Medical marijuana science, through the smoke  

But in California, the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use, in 1996, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment recently declared pot smoke (though not the plant itself) a carcinogen because it has some of the same harmful substances as tobacco smoke.

The active ingredient in marijuana can increase the risk for Kaposi's sarcoma, a common cancer in HIV/AIDS patients, Harvard researchers reported in the journal Cancer Research in August 2007. And British researchers reported in May in Chemical Research in Toxicology that laboratory experiments showed that pot smoke can damage DNA, suggesting it might cause cancer.

The federal government's National Institute on Drug Abuse says that it is "not yet determined" whether marijuana increases the risk for lung and other cancers.

Respiratory problems: Smoking one marijuana joint has similar adverse effects on lung function as 2 1/2 to five cigarettes, according to a New Zealand study published in Thorax in July 2007. A small Australian study published in Respirology in January 2008 showed that pot smoking can lead to one type of lung disease 20 years earlier than tobacco smoking.

Addictive potential: The National Institute on Drug Abuse says "repeated use could lead to addiction," adding that some heavy users experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and sleep loss if they stop suddenly. . . .

Bottom line: From a purely medical, not political, point of view, my take is that if I had medical problems that other medications did not help and that marijuana might, I'd try it -- in vaporized form.

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