Smoking weed, according to a small new study out of University of California San Francisco, is bad for your heart—and so is consuming cannabis as an edible.
Though it’s unclear how THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound of cannabis) damages blood vessels, such decreased blood vessel function is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular conditions including heart attack and hypertension.
For the study, researchers recruited 55 seemingly healthy people aged 18-50 who consumed or smoked cannabis at least three times a week for at least a year; smokers averaged 10 years of chronic use, while those who took edibles averaged five.
Though all cannabis users displayed reduced blood vessel function, the smokers had an additional issue: detectable changes in their blood serum that were harmful to endothelial cells, which form the inner lining of all blood and lymphatic vessels.
“Notably,” they write, “this current study shows a clear increase in early indicators of vascular dysfunction in otherwise healthy cannabis users.”
“The marijuana and cannabis products that your grandparents may have used are very different from what’s out there now,” said Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD, Albert E Kent Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.
“As a geriatrician, it gives me pause,” Dr. Benjamin Han, the geriatrician and addiction medicine specialist at the University of California, San Diego behind the recent findings on older people’s cannabis use, told the Times. “Our brains are more sensitive to psychoactive substances as we age.”
Still, there are health and wellness benefits to cannabis use, too—and the balance between the good and bad can be a tricky one to strike. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia now allow cannabis use for medical reasons—with 24 of those states, as well as Washington, also allowing recreational use.
But, as the recent study on cardiovascular risk notes, “There is a popular belief that marijuana smoke is harmless. However, marijuana smoke contains many of the thousands of chemicals contained in tobacco smoke, along with fine particles that contribute to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
“As cannabis legalization increases,” the researchers write, “it is crucial to understand the public health and clinical implications of marijuana use.”
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