The anti-smoking campaign in New York boarders on assault with the graphic TV spots and ads depicting cigarette smoke as a major cause of cancer, heart and other health related problems. At the same time that these ads are running all over the state, Cuomo is coming out in favor of "medical" Marijuana. Marijuana smoke is much worse for your health than tobacco smoke:
* In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of emergency room mentions of marijuana use. From 1993-2000, the number of emergency room marijuana mentions more than tripled.
* There are also many long-term health consequences of marijuana use. According to the National Institutes of Health, studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.
* Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, including most of the harmful substances found in tobacco smoke. Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette.
* Harvard University researchers report that the risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking marijuana.
* Smoking marijuana also weakens the immune system and raises the risk of lung infections. A Columbia University study found that a control group smoking a single marijuana cigarette every other day for a year had a white-blood-cell count that was 39 percent lower than normal, thus damaging the immune system and making the user far more susceptible to infection and sickness.