Jesus. This has hit me really hard. I’ve been smoking weed for 30 years. 11 weeks ago I had a huge (tennis ball sized) lump pop out of my neck. Dr diagnosed me as having an infection of the parotid gland (saliva gland). Antibiotics for a week, lump hung around for a month.

Had an ultrasound scan 3 weeks ago, turns out it’s a tumour 😞 Stopped smoking that day. 30 years crashed down on me during that one 15 min appointment.

Was immediately put in the NHS suspect cancer 2 week pathway. Had an FNA (biopsy) and an MRI scan 2 weeks ago. Here I am, awaiting the news. Avoided googling the shit outta this, then stumble across this post. Blown me away a bit. I mean, we all know smoking isn’t big or clever, but this has been the biggest wake up call of my life, obviously.

I am part of a very reputable profession, married for 25 years, 4 kids. The works. Here I am, absolutely petrified waiting on a phone call.

Long story sorry. Thought I’d share tho.

I hope you get some positive news mate.

Sending you SO much love, best EVER wishes, and healing vibes 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Thoughts are with you mate, I know it's easier to say than do but stay positive, Its been beaten before and will be again💜💚

We believe it's the smoking that is the problem..you cannot get away from the dangers! But working with cannabis oil doesn't yield the unwanted effects and works as the plant intended. Can even yield the psychedelic effects and change things on a spiritual level way more than smoking! We believe in it as a psychedelic medicine just like our medicine! It has the power to change lives :-) Get well soon brother! You can change things around with changing your mind ;)

Is the tumour in your parotid gland?
I had one in 2006. Turned out to be a pleomorphic adenoma- the most common kind. Thankfully it is benign and was out and touch wood I’m all good except I have a scar that makes me look like I was a ruffian in my younger years

Wow. This is fascinating for me to read. Thanks for sharing Asaddd.

They mentioned the possibility of a common type, that would need removing even if benign. I didn’t take in the name tho. Like I touched on, I’m (usually!) a rational person, but I haven’t googled anything about this. My wife has tho, a lot, she works within the NHS and has spoken to people in this field. We have an unspoken understanding atm and not really discussing it at all. Her mum passed away very young with a cancer in her neck, I know she’s in bits about this. This is breaking me inside.

It’s a weird limbo we’re in, just waiting for the test results. Should be this week by the looks. My gp phoned me Thursday just gone and explained who is looking at it and where, and the process of diagnosis.

The thought of facial surgery scares the bejesus outta me, but the thought of it not being malignant makes it more bearable.

I pray to god/ the universe you do have the benign type.
You do sound rational I think it’s a good mindset- one step at a time.
Please can you post updates?
I’m sure myself and many others here care enough to want to know. Wishing you all the best wishes in the world my friend 👊🏽

Praying you get the good news, Stay strong brother no matter what the outcome keep your head high.

Wow, life can be so cruel.. wishing you the best mate, hopefully a positive call..stay strong

bigg bigg blessings to you!

Fingers crossed for good news.

Thank you for sharing your story. Try and keep your head up, just make sure you act on the doctor's advice and do so quickly. Please keep away from smoking anything at all now though mate, for you and yours.

Thanks FJ. I am doing exactly this. It’s not been any effort either tbh.

Much love to you catt and heartfelt thanks for sharing your story.

May I ask for the benefit of all of us - do you only smoke weed or baccy too?

Thank you Ike.

So I have smoked weed with tobacco for these 30 years. Smoked cigarettes in the 90s, early 00s, then rolling tobacco. Never a ‘heavy’ fag smoker really, but a heavy joint smoker through (weed and tobacco). Bought a mighty vape last year in an effort to kick my combustion habbit. Used it twice as I really didn’t get in with it. Not smoked anything since my scan that confirmed a tumour, 4 weeks ago. Never found quitting so easy. Currently enjoying the benefits of not having a dependency of any sorts for the first time in my adult life. Felling a better dad and husband for it tbh.

Used a lot of chemicals in those 90s/00s years and have had an ‘unhealthy’ relationship with alcohol since covid, which I have got on top of over the last 9 months.

I mean, that makes sense.. I don't think anything is really *supposed* to be combusted and inhaled. I know so many people already preach and I don't just wanna be another one, but dry herb vapes truly are a great way to consume. Bud lasts longer, tastes better AND you get avb to use in edibles at the end! I'll still be bongin' and spliffin' it up but it's great to have so many options nowadays

No doubt dry herb vaping is almost certainly way better in terms of health risks than smoking (I also do it as well as edibles). On the other hand, the research on the health risks for dry herb vaping is still extremely limited. Inhaling hot particulates (which still happens with vaping) tends to be no bueno for health.

Very true. We're still kind of in the infancy of cannabis research. We know the long term effects of cigarettes and alcohol but, with the legality of weed over the years, we've still got so many unanswered questions about it. And dry herb vapes really haven't been around that long either. I just hope that we get some conclusive answers in our lifetimes...

I think carts are going to prove a massive roadblock for cannabis development and freedom because of growing health concerns. WithTHCA, D8 & D10 workarounds these are available all across N.America now and the demand is huge with consumers able to puff through 1ml carts or more every single day. Chemical contamination is rife. These things ARE addictive. California is reporting rapidly increasing needs for specialist pulmonary treatments amongst all ages and new clinics are opening rapidly.
Its just the tip of the iceberg...

As much as I want to believe that the convenience and discretion of carts is a positive thing, sadly you're 100% spot on. People doing blinkers and landing themselves in hospital isn't an uncommon occurrence in the US, I think seby G (weedtuber) had an incident like that. People going through a gram of 90%+ THC distillate in a day is just insane on so many levels. And as far as contaminants, I 100% believe there's more contaminated carts in the world than legit ones. By a big margin. From pesticides and vitamin E acetate all the way up to spice-laden disposables now prevalent across the UK. It's really a worrying trend and the demand for carts is going up by the day.....

No doubt.

I also wonder if a large part of the emergence of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome as a thing can be linked to heavy usage of carts and concentrates. I suspect it's usually It's hard to get sufficient THC to cause those symptoms from plain old bud.

I wouldn't be surprised at all tbh, 900mg of pure THC every single day cannot be a good thing. Plus there's no entourage effect with disty carts, which is good for some but I personally think the other terps and cannabinoids are what "makes" a high. Even so, rosin/live resin carts must still have 70%+ THC a lot of the time. Overconsumption is the worst thing anyone can do with weed imo, stay within your limits and enjoy it! Don't just get to an 11/10 high all day every day

For a real eye-opener, read this investigation by the LA Times 😳:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-14/the-dirty-secret-of-californias-legal-weed