(DailyDig.com) – The Journal of the American Heart Association published a study that concluded that daily smoking of marijuana poses a higher risk of having a stroke or heart attack than people who do not.
The National Institutes of Health funded the study by researchers at the San Francisco University of California (UCSF). They analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and used 434,104 cases to study how marijuana affected people’s cardiovascular events.
The researchers compared the effect of cannabis on the individual’s risk of suffering from a stroke, heart attack, or heart disease. They compared those results with those of individuals who never smoked any tobacco products. The people they surveyed included those who did not use marijuana for the last 30 days, not daily users, and daily users.
The study revealed that those who used cannabis daily had an increased risk of 25% for heart attack and an increased risk of 42% for stroke. Adverse outcomes for cardiovascular events were higher, according to the study results, for people who use cannabis heavily; daily or almost daily.
Dr. Abra Jeffers, a co-author of the study, stated that many people believe that marijuana is not harmful, but it is. Their study shows that smoking marijuana is just as bad for people’s health as tobacco smoking. Even though their study reported on daily use, they found that the more days a person uses cannabis, the greater the risks.
Even though cardiovascular risks were lower for those who use cannabis less often, it still increased the risk for non-users: 3% for heart attacks and 5% for strokes. Cannabis usage methods range from eating foods infused with cannabis (less often), vaping (moderate), and smoking (most common).
As the use of cannabis among adults in the US has nearly doubled over the last 20 years, especially since states are making it legal for recreational use (24 states), perceptions of harm have been decreasing, according to the researchers.
Heart disease is the cause of one in five deaths in the US, according to the CDC.
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