THE British Lung Foundation is urging cannabis smokers not to be dopes in the New Year.

It is asking everyone to increase their knowledge of the respiratory risks of smoking the drug.

More than eight million people in the United Kingdom have a lung condition. The BLF announced earlier this year that, far from being safe, cannabis is 50 per cent more carcinogenic than tobacco.

Joints

Its report, A Smoking Gun?, also found that just three joints a day were equivalent to 20 tobacco cigarettes a day.

"All we ask is that people are aware of the risks they are taking with cannabis and do not smoke it in ignorance believing it to be safe - it is not," said BLC chief executive Dame Helena Shovelton.

Anyone who wants a copy of the report can download a copy from www.lunguk.org