With growing marijuana use across the country, studies have looked at the link between cannabis use and cardiovascular problems — but new research is showing the magnitude of such risk.
In the study, published Tuesday in the journal Heart, researchers found cannabis use is linked to a doubled risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 29% higher risk for acute coronary syndrome and 20% higher risk for stroke.
The authors analyzed data from 24 studies published from 2016 to 2023.
“Our results provide a fully comprehensive report of the recent situation towards the cardiovascular health of cannabis users,” the authors wrote, but added there were some study limitations, including potential imprecise dosage measurements.
With recreational marijuana legal in 24 states, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving to reclassify the drug to a less dangerous category under the Controlled Substances Act.
Daily marijuana users now outnumber daily drinkers for the first time ever, according to a Carnegie Mellon University report last year. The preference shift is largely being driven by young people. For example, 69% of people aged 18 to 24 prefer marijuana to alcohol, according to a 2022 survey by New Frontier Data, a cannabis research firm.
Due to increased usage, the perception of risk around marijuana has declined, health experts Dr. Lynn Silver of the Public Health Institute and Stanton Glantz, emeritus professor of the University of California at San Francisco, write in an editorial note that was published alongside the research, but the results of the study highlight the potential health effects.
In the note, the authors called for the drug to “be treated like tobacco: not criminalized but discouraged,” including added protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure.
They also called for more research on whether cardiovascular risks are limited to inhaled products, which made up the majority of cases in the meta-analysis, or extend to other forms of cannabis exposure.
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