Male cannabis cancer link

Men who use cannabis regularly may be exposing themselves to an increased cancer risk, researchers warned today.

A study from California, USA, links use of the drug to increased risk of the most dangerous kinds of testicular cancer.

The study found cannabis use linked to a doubled risk of these kinds of cancer. But use of cocaine was linked to reduced use.

Researchers compared some 163 young men with testicular cancer with another 292 men of similar age and background for the research, reported in the journal Cancer.

Researcher Dr Victoria Cortessis, of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said the finding might help explain why the cancer is becoming more common.

It is the most common cancer to affect young men aged between 15 and 45.

She said: “We do not know what marijuana triggers in the testis that may lead to carcinogenesis, although we speculate that it may be acting through the endocannabinoid system—the cellular network that responds to the active ingredient in marijuana—since this system has been shown to be important in the formation of sperm."

Population-based case-control study of recreational drug use and testis cancer risk confirms association between marijuana use and non-seminoma risk. John Charles A. Lacson, Joshua D. Carroll, Ellenie Tuazon, Esteban J. Castelao, Leslie Bernstein, and Victoria K. Cortessis. Cancer September 10, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27554