The drug has becoming increasingly commonplace over the past several years — but researchers stress the need for more caution.

An increasing number of studies are showing that marijuana may not be so harmless after all.

In two new studies, to be presented later this month at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2023, researchers found that regular marijuana use increased the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart failure — even after factors like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity were taken into account.

“Prior research shows links between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease like coronary artery disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, which is known to cause heart failure,” lead study author Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, M.D., MPH, a resident physician at Medstar Health in Baltimore, said in a statement. “Marijuana use isn’t without its health concerns, and our study provides more data linking its use to cardiovascular conditions.”

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1272·
    1 year ago

    Funny how both studies focus on smoking though, it’s almost as if inhaling smoke isn’t healthy 🤯.

    • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      1 year ago

      I’m wondering about vaping and CBD/hemp too: I use a dry herb vape with hemp to quit smoking cigarettes. Works great but now I’m a little worried. My resting heart rate is 50 bpm and I get a decent amount of physical activity so hopefully I’m OK.

      • treefrog@lemm.ee
        32·
        1 year ago

        THC does cause heart distress, regardless of consumption method.

        CBD should be fine.

        Either are better than nicotine anyway.

      • Uglyhead@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I heard vaping gives you wet popcorn lung and kills you faster than smoke.

        /s

        Also, drink alcohol it’s way better for you than marijyana

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
      7·
      1 year ago

      Funny how both studies focus on smoking though

      But it didn’t and even says so… I’d take this with a grain of salt. It’s not very scientific IMO.

      A limitation of the study is that it relied on data that did not specify whether the marijuana was inhaled or eaten. According to researchers, how marijuana is ingested may influence cardiovascular outcomes.

    • kromem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      My biggest complaint with most cannabis research is the failure to subgroup results by delivery mechanism.

      Do people that don’t smoke at all but use oral cannabis have higher heart complication risks, and if so how much are they elevated compared to the norm and compared to the subgroups that smoke?

      But no, it’s usually just catchy headlines about “cannabis correlated with X” when I get the feeling many times it’s really “smoking things correlated with X.”