MOUNTING EVIDENCE AGAINST THE LEGALIZATION OF POT

People who smoke weed daily have up to a 60 PERCENT higher risk of these serious medical issues, study suggests

Canadian researchers looked at 60,000 people, half with cannabis use disorder. This group was up to 60 more likely to suffer cardiovascular disease event

 

By Caitlin Tilley 

 

Daily Mail

Sep 28, 2023

The research joins mounting evidence of the harms of regularly smoking weed

 

Marijuana dependence and addiction significantly increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Canadian researchers found people with cannabis use disorder - those who are unable to stop using the drug - have up to a 60 percent higher risk of a heart attack or stroke than those who do not.

The exact reason why is not fully understood, but it is thought to be due to the activation of the endocannabinoid system, a network of receptors in the body that respond to compounds in cannabis. 

When cannabinoids — the active ingredient in cannabis — enter your system, they trigger effects like an increased heart rate and constricted blood vessels, which raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The research joins mounting evidence of the harms of regularly smoking weed. 

Meanwhile, marijuana use has reached record highs in young adults. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found one in three high schoolers are drug users, with one in six regularly using marijuana.

And 35 million Americans reported taking the drug in some form last year.

Dr Anees Bahji, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Calgary in Canada, said: 'Our study doesn't provide enough information to say that cannabis use disorder causes adverse cardiovascular disease events, but we can go so far as to say that Canadians with cannabis use disorder appear to have a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease than people without the disorder.'

 

Marijuana can be used recreationally in 22 US states

 

The researchers used five Canadian health databases to track nearly 60,000 participants between January 2012 and December 2019. 

Half of the participants had a cannabis use disorder and half did not. Those who had had a cardiovascular disease event before the study timeframe were excluded. 

Cannabis use disorder is loosely defined as people who smoke marijuana every day and cannot stop using the drug even though it is causing health and social issues, such as affecting their work and relationships.

It affects up to 30 percent of weed users, the CDC reports.

In the study, researchers compared people who had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder with people who had not.

They did not quantify the amount of weed each participant had been smoking. 

During the study period, 721 (2.4 percent) of people in the cannabis use disorder group suffered a cardiovascular disease event for the first time, such as a heart attack or stroke, compared to 458 (1.5 percent) of people in the group who did not abuse the drug.

Adults with cannabis use disorder had a roughly 60 percent higher risk of experiencing heart attacks and strokes than those without the disorder.

In the group of people with cannabis use disorder, those who had no other substance use or mental disorders, no prescriptions, and fewer than five visits to health services in the last six months had an even higher risk of a first-time cardiovascular disease event — approximately 1.4 times higher than for the rest of the cannabis-use-disorder group. 

The researchers theorized this could be because those people thought they were healthy, and may not have acted on or noticed the warning signs of an imminent heart attack, stroke, or other major cardiovascular event.

A separate study estimated that people who use cannabis have a 10 percent chance of becoming addicted, and the likelihood of developing cannabis use disorder is higher in people who started using it in adolescence.

The recent study was published Thursday in the journal Addiction.

Chronic cannabis use raises the risk of major depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis by up to FOUR TIMES, major study suggests

 

The analysis of 6.6 million people found that chronically smoking cannabis raises the risk of psychotic bipolar disorder by 4.1 times, and any type of depression by 1.8 times

 

Chronic cannabis use significantly raises the risk of mental health problems and personality disorders, a major study suggests.

Research on more than 6.6million people in Denmark found that those who were addicted to marijuana were up to four times more likely to be diagnosed with major depression or bipolar disorder.

They looked at people with cannabis use disorder (CUD), defined as being unable to stop using the drug even if it was causing damage to their health and social lives.

Depression cases have been rising in recent decades, linked to growing and aging populations. But the researchers warn it could become more common as marijuana becomes increasingly legal. It can be used recreationally in 22 US states.

Researchers from the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark analyzed the medical records of people born between 1995 and 2021.

All participants were at least 16 years old. They were all also from Denmark, where recreational cannabis use is illegal, but it can still be accessed via the black market.

Teens who use cannabis just once a week could face same SIX-FOLD increased risk of schizophrenia as daily smokers, study claims

Teens who occasionally use cannabis are just as likely to develop schizophrenia as daily smokers, a study has claimed. 

Researchers in the Caribbean reviewed more than 590 papers looking at cannabis use in children aged 12 to 18.

Smoking the drug at low frequencies came with the same six-fold increased risk of getting the mental disorder as doing it daily, results showed. Rates of schizophrenia in both groups were compared against non-smokers. 

Experts warned it is vital teenagers avoid using the drug while their brains are still developing.