The drug has becoming increasingly commonplace over the past several years — but researchers stress the need for more caution.

An increasing number of studies are showing that marijuana may not be so harmless after all.

In two new studies, to be presented later this month at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2023, researchers found that regular marijuana use increased the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart failure — even after factors like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity were taken into account.

“Prior research shows links between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease like coronary artery disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, which is known to cause heart failure,” lead study author Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, M.D., MPH, a resident physician at Medstar Health in Baltimore, said in a statement. “Marijuana use isn’t without its health concerns, and our study provides more data linking its use to cardiovascular conditions.”

  • ChainweaselEnglish
    133•8 months ago

    Funny how both studies focus on smoking though, it’s almost as if inhaling smoke isn’t healthy 🤯.

    • @[email protected]English
      58•8 months ago

      My biggest complaint with most cannabis research is the failure to subgroup results by delivery mechanism.

      Do people that don’t smoke at all but use oral cannabis have higher heart complication risks, and if so how much are they elevated compared to the norm and compared to the subgroups that smoke?

      But no, it’s usually just catchy headlines about “cannabis correlated with X” when I get the feeling many times it’s really “smoking things correlated with X.”

          • @[email protected]
            3•8 months ago

            Except when it’s a study that completely ignores very obvious alternative causes for its outcome. In that case, it’s reasonable to suspect malice.

    • FartsWithAnAccentEnglish
      16•8 months ago

      I’m wondering about vaping and CBD/hemp too: I use a dry herb vape with hemp to quit smoking cigarettes. Works great but now I’m a little worried. My resting heart rate is 50 bpm and I get a decent amount of physical activity so hopefully I’m OK.

      • Uglyhead
        English
        6•8 months ago

        I heard vaping gives you wet popcorn lung and kills you faster than smoke.

        /s

        Also, drink alcohol it’s way better for you than marijyana

        • GONADS125
          5•8 months ago

          If you’re vaping BHO extracted products/products with added terpenes, then you are doing damage to your lungs. Dry herb vaping and live rosin excluded.

          You have to be so careful with the extraction methods and diluent agents when it comes to vaping concentrates (that includes regulated vape carts–not just black market carts).

          [Cannabis] extracts are not diluted in propylene glycol or glycerol like nicotine due to their hydrophobic properties. Instead, various forms of oils including vegetable oils, terpenes, and tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E acetate) have been reported as diluents. In most reported cases of EVALI, additional flavoring additives are also added to products.

          Although many of these diluent agents and flavorings have been “generally recognized as safe” for oral ingestion by the FDA, recent research shows that when heated to form an aerosol and inhaled, conditions including bronchitis, bronchiolitis, acute hypoxic respiratory distress, lipoid-associated pneumonia, and pneumonitis may result. [1]

          The terpenes used in vape carts to dilute and reintroduce flavor and aroma (which is lost in some extraction methods, like BHO) also produces harmful byproducts when vaped. [2]

          Another problem with cheap vape pens and e-cigs is the cheap atomizers/coils used. There have been confirmed cases of these coils/atomizers leeching heavy metals into the vapor produced.[3]

          It’s always important to consider the risk-mitigation approach, but a lot of people don’t comprehend that not all vaping concentrates/methods are equal, and some should absolutely be avoided.

        • DagonPie
          2•8 months ago

          Vaping can give you popcorn lung. Its just not as common as everyone says.

          • be_excellent_to_each_other
            16•8 months ago

            It’s been too many years since I’ve had this argument to remember the details, but it’s linked to specific additives that are usually in specific flavors. IIRC the mitigation is to not buy from sellers who use cheap flavorings and to avoid certain buttery flavors.

              • be_excellent_to_each_other
                9•8 months ago

                Well now you’ve made me google. 🙂

                IIRC that’s a different problematic component.

                The component that causes popcorn lung is diacetyl. https://reason.org/backgrounder/debunking-the-myth-that-vaping-causes-popcorn-lung/

                I no longer vape, but when I did it wasn’t too hard to find sellers who would provide lab results or other certification that they did not use diacetyl in their flavorings.

                Your link also distinguishes between the two:

                vape-related injury concerning a teenage boy in Canada has recently gained the media’s attention as well. The 17-year-old boy vaped “intensively,” adding THC to his devices. He initially showed symptoms aligning with bronchiolitis (lung condition normally caused by a bacterial or viral infection), but many patients that have vape-related illnesses in the United States have experienced damage to the alveoli; this type of injury was not found. Instead, his case aligned more with an injury called “popcorn lung,” an ailment most commonly seen in factory workers of microwave popcorn plants nearly 20 years ago. This new vape-related case calls for further exploration into the toxicity of vape liquid, as the patient’s condition could have been caused by the THC added to the vaping devices, or the chemical that affected factory workers in the past - diacetyl. Diacetyl is present in many e-cigarette flavors [14]. The American Lung Association has called for the FDA to require that diacetyl and other hazardous chemicals be removed from e-cigarette cartridges.

            • GONADS125
              3•8 months ago

              You can look at my comment above.

              BHO extracted products and ones that use additional terpenes for flavor/as a diluent agent should be avoided. This does not only apply to black market/vitamin E acetate containing carts. This very much includes mainstream carts available on the shelves of dispensaries.

      • @[email protected]
        2•8 months ago

        THC does cause heart distress, regardless of consumption method.

        CBD should be fine.

        Either are better than nicotine anyway.

    • @[email protected]
      7•8 months ago

      Funny how both studies focus on smoking though

      But it didn’t and even says so… I’d take this with a grain of salt. It’s not very scientific IMO.

      A limitation of the study is that it relied on data that did not specify whether the marijuana was inhaled or eaten. According to researchers, how marijuana is ingested may influence cardiovascular outcomes.