New studies reinforce link between pot use and heart attack, heart failure, stroke

By Paul Godfrey
NOV. 6, 2023 / 5:00 AM

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Two new preliminary studies on recreational marijuana and health strengthen existing evidence that regular use negatively impacts heart and brain health, according to the American Heart Association.

The first report, drawing on data from a major study involving more than 150,000 people from all walks of American society looking at the relationship between lifestyle, biology and environment, found daily use of marijuana raised the risk of developing heart failure by about one-third compared with non-users.

A research team from Medstar Health, a not-for-profit health provider in the Baltimore-Washington metro area, found that among 156,999 healthy people it followed, those who used marijuana had a 34% higher risk of developing heart failure during the 45 months of the study, compared to those who reported never using marijuana.

This risk was the same regardless of age, sex, or smoking history with the findings of the study -- part of the National Institutes of Health's All of Us research program -- suggesting that coronary artery disease was the pathway through which daily marijuana use may lead to heart failure.

[...]