Bleomycin and Cannabis

Question

To my understanding, bleomycin has a considerably detrimental effect on the lungs of a patient taking it as a part of their chemotherapy regime. However, my question is, if a patient smokes cannabis (Provided it's organically grown without the interference of pesticides and alike) after the treatment, will it effect the functionally and health of the patient's lungs?

Also, what period of time after chemotherapy has ended would it be 'safe,' if at all, to use cannabis recreationally?

Just to add, I have done quite a bit of searching across the Internet for studies and patient accounts regarding the use of cannabis both amidst and post chemotherapy. Although a majority of the things I've read are accounts from patients, none mention having any difficulties with their lungs. All of the accounts I've read attest to it aiding their recovery from treatment.

Answer 1

If you are concerned about your lungs you could try to use edibles. They will not have any effect on your lungs.

However you should be careful because the onset of edibles takes longer (generally between 30 minutes and an hour) so it is harder to dose and generally lasts for a longer period (4-6 hours).

Another way of consuming cannabis involves the use of a vaporizer. Although this might still have some effect on your lungs. It uses convection instead of combustion of the cannabis leaving any plant material that has a lower vaporization point than the used temperature on the vaporizer behind. The benefit of this method is that the onset is as fast as smoking because the uptake of the active compounds is similar to smoking it so it is easier to dose.

I am not sure how long you have to wait after your treatment so you should consult your doctor about it but I have heard of people using it during chemotherapy already to help combat the nausea.