Study: Daily Cannabis Smokers 25% More Likely to Suffer Heart Attack, 42% Higher Stroke Risk

A recreational marijuana smoker indulges in smoking weed on April 14, 2020 in the Bushwick
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Paul Bois

A study suggests daily cannabis users have a 25 percent increased risk of a heart attack and a 42 percent increased risk of a stroke.

The new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that cannabis smoke increased the risk of heart attacks similar to tobacco smoke. Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and former researcher at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, said that cannabis use should be considered an increased risk of heart disease alongside other substances.

“We know that toxins are released when cannabis is burned, similar to those found in tobacco smoke,” said Jeffers.

“We’ve known for a long time that smoking tobacco is linked to heart disease, and this study is evidence that smoking cannabis appears to also be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Cannabis use could be an important, underappreciated source of heart disease,” he added.

Dr. Salomeh Keyhani, a professor of medicine at UCSF and senior author of the study, in a separate statement, that cannabis use could overtake tobacco as a cause for heart disease as use of the former drug overtakes the latter.

“Cannabis use is increasing in both prevalence and frequency, while conventional tobacco smoking is declining,” said Keyhani. “Cannabis use by itself might, over time, become the more important risk factor.”

Per the New York Post, the researchers analyzed “data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 434,104 American adults aged 18 to 74 between 2016 and 2020. About 4 percent were daily cannabis users, 7 percent used the drug about five days a month and 88.9 percent had not used any marijuana in the past 30 days.”

“Keyhani’s report showed that people who inhaled cannabis via combustion were 25% more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t use the drug at all. The daily habit also increased their chances of having a stroke by 42%,” it added.

Of those who used cannabis, roughly 75 percent said that they smoked the drug as opposed to vaping or ingesting.

As Breitbart News reported last year, a study shows that marijuana use has reached record levels for young adults and may soon become a practice among the majority. According to a Monitoring the Future study by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, marijuana and hallucinogen use steadily climbed among young adults between 19 and 30 compared to just ten years ago:

Past-year, past-month and daily marijuana use (use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days) reached the highest levels ever recorded since these trends were first monitored in 1988. Marijuana use in the past month was reported by 29% of young adults in 2021, compared to 21% five years ago (2016) and 17% 10 years ago (2011). Daily marijuana use also significantly increased during these time periods, reported by 11% of young adults in 2021, a significant increase from 8% in 2016 and 6% in 2011.

Past-year hallucinogen use had been relatively stable over the past few decades until 2020, when reports of use started to increase dramatically. In 2021, 8% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, representing an all-time high since the category was first surveyed in 1988. By comparison, in 2016, 5% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, and in 2011, only 3% reported use.

Alcohol still remains the popular substance of choice among young adults, while binge drinking and high-intensity drinking has seen an uptick since the pandemic.

The study came months after a U.K. study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry showed people who use cannabis with a THC potency above five to ten milligrams per gram have a higher risk of addiction and mental health problems. Study co-author Tom Freeman, director of the addiction and mental health group at the U.K.’s University of Bath, told CNN in an email at the time that high-potency cannabis users have a “four-fold increased risk of addiction” over low potency cannabis users.

RELATED: Fail! Seattle Delinquents Botch Raid on Cannabis Facility

Seattle Police Department / BODY CAMS+ /TMX

Roughly three in ten people in the United States have been diagnosed with marijuana addiction, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Likewise, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found a 76 percent increase in treatment for marijuana addiction over the past decade.

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.

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