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Comment by __blockcipher__ | Hacker News Reader

To state the obvious, tobacco is far more harmful than you for pure nicotine, but pure nicotine is harmful too - just to a way lesser extent, whereas drugs like cannabis are (physically) completely harmless.

It's actually pretty shocking how not-bad-for-you weed is by comparison. I used to think smoking cigarettes was bad because you're inhaling smoke, but it turns out they're bad because you're inhaling a specific kind of pro-inflammatory, oxidative-damage-causing smoke. Whereas something about cannabis, whether it be the antioxidant effect or the different particle size, makes it actually ridiculously safe.

[Sorry if I was off topic, but I see a lot of misconceptions about tobacco vs nicotine vs cannabis in terms of relative harm)

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> pure nicotine is harmful too

In what way? A summary [1] I have read some time ago does not seem to suggest nicotine is really harmful in any obviously offputting way.

[1] https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine#health-issues

Get some strong (high nicotine) vape liquid in your mouth and you’ll understand.

You can get moderate nicotine poisoning from vaping or smoking too much too quickly: headache, nausea, it feels gross.

I got it real bad from those old Eclipse cigarettes which were basically flame activated vaporizers way ahead of their time. You just couldn’t pause it once it was chooching like you can with every battery operated vape.

I've read the same summary. I agree nicotine isn't very bad overall, but inhaling it is definitely not good for your lungs. This is anecdotal but I can feel the difference in respiratory inflammation when vaping a lot as opposed to just smoking/vaporizing weed.

And again, tobacco is an order of magnitude worse most likely (if not more). But I highly doubt nicotine is completely harmless to the lungs, throat etc

> whereas drugs like cannabis are (physically) completely harmless

What now? When you burn and inhale any organic matter it deposits a lot of tar in your lungs (pot much more so than modern cigarettes). Are you suggesting that has no ill effects?

This. I used to smoke pot every day (couple bowls, nothing major) and my lungs were shot. Couldn't run without wheezing, always had a cough with mucus. Just look at the bowl you've burned the pot in. THC is sticky and thick, and makes a horrible resin when burned. Of course that gets in your lungs to a degree.

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