Just Say Know

Something kinda important everyone should know who indulges in the magical plant known as cannabis. The length of time one holds a hit of pot smoke in the lungs has little to no effect on how high ya get.

What is important, however, as most pot smokers tend to learn instinctually, is how DEEP one takes the smoke into the lungs. The reason for this is basically pretty simple: the lungs are essentially made up of a bunch of tubes, called bronchi. These tubes break into smaller tubes, that break into smaller tubes, that break into even smaller tubes, that finally end in tiny sacks called alveoli. These tiny sacks are covered in very fine blood vessels, called capillaries. In normal breathing, oxygen goes from the alveoli into the capillaries, which drain into the pulmonary veins, which go directly to the heart. (This is way drugs take effect so quickly when they are smoked).

So basically, to get your money’s worth, the idea is to fill as many alveoli as possibly with smoke by taking the smoke as deep into the lungs as one can. However, the actual transaction of cannabinoids (the pharmacologically active chemicals in pot) going from the alveoli to the capillaries happens very quickly. All that happens when you hold the smoke in for a long time is that it gives the irritants in the smoke a longer time to irritate your lungs. It’s pretty well established that regular pot-smoking increases one’s risk of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other lung illnesses (although apparently NOT cancer, as several major studies have shown, which I’ll discuss in a future article). So, to decrease your chance of developing any of these illnesses (chronic bronchitis, while nowhere near as bad as lung cancer, still sucks ass… let me tell you) you want to get the irritants out of your lungs as soon as the cannabinoids have been absorbed into the bloodstream. And this happens in a matter of a couple seconds.

Two studies (possibly more, but two that I found today, anyway) demonstrate this phenomenon. One study [1] looked at the cognitive effects of cannabis smoking in participants who held the smoke for a short vs. a long period of time. This study measured a battery of cognitive effects of pot smoking between the two groups, including tests of learning, associative processes, abstraction, vocabulary, and psychomotor performance. The majority of the tests showed no difference between the short-time and long-time smoke holders. A few of the tests showed minor differences, but the researchers concluded that this was simply a result of the participants holding their breath for a long time (maybe due to lack of oxygen). They concluded this because when the participants held their breath for a long time, they did worse on these tests whether they were smoking pot or whether they were smoking a placebo (a substance that looked and smelled like pot, but had no psychological or physical effects).

A similar, but slightly more complex study [2] looked at differences not only among groups who held the smoke different lengths of time, but also among groups who took in different amounts of smoke. As you might expect, the more smoke the participants took into their lungs, the more of an effect the smoke had. The more smoke they took in, the more THC was found in the blood, as well as the more the participants reported feeling high. Taking in more smoke also increased carbon monoxide boost, or how much carbon monoxide came out in the participants’ breath. Basically, this is a measure of how much smoke the participants’ lungs were exposed to. However, the length of time the participants held the smoke had no effect on carbon monoxide boost, nor did it have any effect on their self-reported high. The length of time the participants held the smoke also had no effect on an assortment of cognitive and motor tasks, similar to the first study. There was a difference in blood THC levels between the groups who held it in for 10 or 20 seconds vs. the group who held it in for 0 seconds, but that’s kind of a no-brainer really. Frankly I’m not quite sure what the point of having them hold it in for no time at all was. But scientists can be wacky like that. At any rate, the article concluded that the study “…cast doubt on the common belief that prolonged breathholding of marijuana smoke enhances classical subjective effects…”

So there ya go. Breath it in deep, but the only thing you’ll likely get from holding it a long time is a bad cough.

References:

[1] Block RI, Farinpour R, Braverman K. (1992). Acute effects of marijuana on cognition: relationships to chronic effects and smoking techniques. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behaviour, 43(3), 907-917.

[2] Azorlosa JL, Greenwald MK, Stitzer ML. (1995). Marijuana smoking: effects of varying puff volume and breathhold duration. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 272(2), 560-569.

Hello there, you great big wonderful internet. My name is j0n and I intend to provide interesting and informative articles about drugs and drug use. One of the most egregious side effects of the War on Drugs (or “War on Some Drugs” as many think is more appropriate a moniker) is the suppression of information that it entails. Not only is this a tragedy in its own right, as access to information is a vital cornerstone of democracy, but when dealing with drugs, misinformation can be deadly. Indeed, if not for this War on Drugs, many overdoses and other negative effects of drugs could be easily prevented. Sadly, it is often the case in drug-related deaths that if the individual had received accurate information about drugs, instead of the hype and propaganda dispersed by our government, he or she would still be alive today.

Though I don’t intend to fill this site soley with dry facts about pharmacology (though I do love me some pharmacology); I also intend to throw in assorted interesting things I find here and there related to drug policy, drug lore, and well, anything else that has to do with drugs.

In any case, it is in such a vein that I will begin my first article. I suspect every reader of this blog will be familiar with one Thomas B. Kin Chong, better known as Tommy Chong from “Cheech and Chong” fame. Many of you may know that in 2003, Mr Chong was sentenced to 9 months in federal prison, a fine of $20,000, forfeiture of $103,514, and the loss of all items seized during the preceding raid [1]. He received this sentence as a result of the US Department of Justice’s Operation Pipedreams, which targeted Paris (Tommy’s son) Chong’s Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, among a couple hundred other retailers of pipes and other smoking accessories (i.e., headshops).

Incidentally, Operation Pipedreams was launched on the second anniversary of September 11, 2001. It cost US taxpayers more than $12,000,000 and involved the work of about 2,000 law enforcement officers [2]. Out of this entire effort, Tommy Chong was the only person sentenced to jail time, despite the fact that he was only tangentially involved in the Chong Glass business (primarily as an advertising draw and financier) and despite the fact that he had no prior criminal record (while other people caught in Operation Pipedreams did). BTW, in case you’ve been asleep the past several years, Bin Laden’s still at large. Just sayin..

At any rate, it has been postulated that the reason Tommy was targeted so harshly, compared to the other 54 people that were tried in the operation, was to use him as an example, given his iconic stature in the world of stonerdom. This supposition is supported by the fact that, during his trial, his character in the film “Up in Smoke” was used as evidence against him. Note, not only was this presented as evidence, but it was ACCEPTED as evidence. Boggles the mind, dunnit? Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher compared this to Arnold Schwarzenegger being tried for all the cops that the Terminator killed.

Anyhoo, up to the present day, and the point of this article. A couple months ago, a documentary about this fiasco was released on DVD; a/k/a Tommy Chong, written and directed by Josh Gilbert. I’ve yet to see this film, but it looks pretty interesting (and I’d be interested to hear from anyone who’s seen it what they thought of it). But if you haven’t seen it and you want to, you better get a copy quick. On May 7th, Spectrum Labs, one of the main distributors of a/k/a Tommy Chong and maker of detoxification products*, was raided by the DEA:

…federal agents seized 8,000-10,000 copies of the movie AKA Tommy Chong. The movie is a documentary critical of Buchanan and the federal government’s persecution of Chong. Federal agents apparently think it’s drug paraphernalia.

He called the documentary a “focal point” of the raid. It was released about a month ago, and sales were slow, Mr. Chong said.

“The lawyer representing the Newport company, Spectrum Laboratories, said a competitor of her client had a facility raided the same day in Union Township, Clermont County. An FBI spokesman confirmed a Clermont County raid in connection to the Newport investigation but said he could not elaborate, because the search warrant was sealed.

“It’s selling like crazy now, thanks to Mary Beth**. She’s brought us a nice publicity gimmick.” [3]

The Feds have been unusually tight lipped about the raid, even for them:

The execution of the sealed search warrants was part of a nationwide investigation originating out of Pittsburgh, Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rich Isaacson said. Officials declined to say what was sought in the raid.

The lawyer representing the Newport company, Spectrum Laboratories, said a competitor of her client had a facility raided the same day in Union Township, Clermont County. An FBI spokesman confirmed a Clermont County raid in connection to the Newport investigation but said he could not elaborate, because the search warrant was sealed.

“I expect the investigation to unfold over a number of months, if not years,” said Spectrum attorney Jennifer Kinsley of Cincinnati. [4]

Welp, that’s the scoop for now. If I find any more info on this current raid, I’ll pass it along.

* Regarding detoxifcation products, simply put, do not buy them. They do nothing to speed up the rate at which drugs are excreted from the body. I’ll write about this in more detail in a future article, but genuinely, honestly, and truly, they do nothing. They don’t do anything bad mind you, they just do nothing. Now, on the other hand, Spectrum labs does sell a product (or perhaps several) that would work to pass a pee test. These are synthetic types of urine. However, it should be duly noted that faking a piss test in any way is A FELONY. That is, if you get caught doin that sort of thing, you’re in for some serious shit.

** Referring to US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, who led Operation Pipedreams.

References:

[1] “Chong Actor Tommy Chong gets nine months for selling pot pipes“, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 13th September 2003.

[2] “Chong Family Values“, LA Weekly Times, 4th December 2003.

[3] Balko, R. Mary, Mary, Why You Buggin’?
Reason Magazine, May 21, 2008.

[4] Hannah, J. Feds raid Ky. business The Enquirer, May 8, 2008.