A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that adults under 45 years of age who consumed marijuana within the past 30 days had almost double the amount of heart attacks compared to those who didn’t use the drug. The cross-sectional study looked at 33,173 American adults who participated in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey. According to the analysis, those who reported smoking marijuana more than 4 times per month had twice the odds of suffering a myocardial infarction (MI). Furthermore, the investigators utilized a statistical method known as logistic regression that enabled them to directly assess the relationship between marijuana use and MI after accounting for other factors and health-related behaviors that are also associated with the disease.
Dr. Sharif Mohr, epidemiologist for Drug Free America Foundation remarked, “There is a common misperception that any level of marijuana use is safe. However, the marijuana being used today is much more potent than what was encountered in the bygone hippy era. We are seeing more and more research emerging that demonstrates the serious health consequences that arise from using these high potency marijuana products—especially when research findings are extrapolated to the population level. Legalization is contributing to a burgeoning public health crisis that is only getting started and will get much worse unless lawmakers act quickly to rein in this newest addition to the for-profit addiction industry.”
Source: Ladha KS, Mistry N, Wijeysundera DN, Clarke H, Verma S, Hare GMT, Mazer CD. Recent cannabis use and myocardial infarction in young adults: a cross-sectional study. CMAJ. 2021 Sep 7;193(35):E1377-E1384.
