This has to be a sad sad day in history for all you pot smokers out there – well at least the men anyway. According to a story just posted on The Independent news site it appears that men who smoke pot are in real danger of developing testicular cancer. Yes you heard that right fella’s – all those joints you’ve been smoking could lead to you get cancer in the family jewels.

Apparently the soaring rate of testicular cancer in the UK and other western countries has been linked to the rising popularity of cannabis. Researchers in the US have found that men who regularly smoke pot have a 70 percent increased risk of testicular cancer. The risk was highest – twice that of those who didn’t touch the evil weed – in those who smoked it at least once a week or had a long history of pot smoking.

Experts from Cancer Research UK said it was the first time a link had been suggested and the size of the study was small. More than three million people smoke cannabis and only a tiny proportion develop the cancer.

The results, published today in the journal Cancer, showed a link between cannabis use and one type of testicular cancer, called nonseminoma, which is aggressive, tends to strike younger men and accounts for 40 per cent of testicular cancer.

Stephen Schwartz, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, Washington, who led the research, said: "Our study is not the first to suggest that some aspect of a man’s lifestyle or environment is a risk factor for testicular cancer but it is the first that has looked at marijuana use."

Source: The Independent

Just what the DEA needed – another reason to keep on with its useless war on drugs.

[picture courtesy of Reuters]