This battle just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Marijuana, that killer weed, is in the news again. More health risks associated with pot smoking: A new studyshows that one joint causes the same amount of lung damage as 2.5 to five tobacco cigarettes.Researchers at the New Zealand Medical Research Institute used lung function tests, high-resolution X-rays and questionnaires to look at the lungs of pot smokers, tobacco smokers, and smokers of both marijuana and tobacco. What they found was that long term pot smokers developed asthma, bronchitis, obstruction of the large airways and excessive lung inflation just like tobacco smokers do. You don’t say? However, they found that marijuana smoking does not seem to increase the risk of developing emphysema.

Looks like we’re going to be seeing much more negative press about the ol’ Mary Jane over the next few weeks, months, or years(?). As I said in my earlier post, Dummy Weed?, this is a real battle between Legalize Pot/medical marijuana advocates and the “Just Say No” crew. It’s no surprise to me that a bevy of studies is now being released as things heat up around the legality of medical marijuana clinics. C’mon now, medical science has suddenly become this interested in the physiological effects of marijuana, even after forty years of mainstream use? I know, studies have been done consistently throughout the years, but mark my words, you’re going to hear more – much more – about this in the near future.

All this attention on marijuana, I think, is going to get people talking, and I think we’re on the verge of social change. As they say, there’s no such thing as bad press, and the times they are a-changin’, so stay tuned for more.

For this week’s dumbest health story: Researchers at the University of Texas conducted an exhaustive study on the reasons people have sex and found the most common reason was: It Feels Good. No kidding? Glad to see the innovation at our Nation’s Universities continues to flourish. Can’t wait for more of the same:

• Why People Drink Beer: It Gets Me Loopy
• Why People Run to the Can: I Gotta Go
• Why People Pick Their Noses: Big Boogers Bug

Now that’s money well spent.