Study Shows Marijuana Used As Little as Monthly Can Increase Heart Attack and Stroke Risk

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A recent study was released showing that even the modest smoker can endure the most severe, even fatal effects, as they everyday smoker. According to NBC Using marijuana as little as once per month is associated with a higher risk of both heart attack and stroke. The probability of these happenings rose sharply the more frequently marijuana was used.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital released a study suggesting marijuana may be harmful to the cardiovascular system. Scientists analyzed data on nearly 435,000 patients, ages 18 to 74, to determine if there was a link between marijuana use and a higher risk of heart disease, stroke or heart attack. This data was collected from a behavioral risk factor survey collected from 2016 to 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Robert Page, a clinical pharmacist who specializes in heart disease at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, is worried about the consumption of Marijuana for the average consumer. With Marijuana working its way on becoming legal for recreational use across the country, Page worries that we as a nation, are backtracking into times where the smoking was at an all-time high.

“I think we’re beginning to see the same things we saw with smoking cigarettes back in the ’50s and ’60s — that this is a signal,” Page said. “I feel like we’re repeating history.”

What if I Just Eat Edibles Instead of Smoking Marijuana?

Dr. Deepak Bhatt, the director of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York, believe that overall, that plant is overall not a great benefit to the human body, but he cannot deny that they are healthier alternatives to ingest the plant then smoking it. Consuming the plant through a food product could be one of a few more healthier, and tasteful options to ingest the recreational drug.

“If you force me to answer I would say not smoking is a better way of consuming it,” Bhatt said. “When you smoke things, that makes them more toxic, but that doesn’t mean that we can say it’s definitely safe to consume it as an edible.”

Dr. Joseph Wu, The president of the American Heart Association, also the director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, echoed Dr. Bhatt’s sentiments. Although both types of ingestion can carry various effects, smoking is head and shoulders more impactful.

“If you’re smoking marijuana it’s probably doing double the damage compared to just using edibles,” Wu said. “When you eat the edible, the THC goes into your body and can cause vascular inflammation. Whereas when you smoke, there is damage from the particulate matter and then the THC gets absorbed into your body, as well.”

What if I smoke Marijuana, But I’m Under 40, and Healthy?

The study showed that among younger adults, defined as men younger than 55 and women younger than 65, cannabis use was astonishingly associated with a significant 36% higher odds increase of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke, regardless of whether or not they also used traditional tobacco products.

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“I’ve seen it through the years with clinical practice many times where sometimes we bang our heads thinking, ‘Why [is] this person in their 20s, or 30s or 40s [coming] in with a heart attack?” Bhatt said. “The only thing I can find after asking and asking again and again in terms of potential risk factors is marijuana,”

Dr. Bhatt gave a simple recommendation to those worried about the risk. Do not smoke. But if you are an avid smoker, that is obviously easier said then done. “So the smart thing to do would be not to smoke marijuana, but I realize it’s extremely popular and that’s advice that may not be well received by all.”

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