Consuming cannabis nearly doubles the risk of heart attack in young adults, says new research

Recently published research suggests that adults under the age of 45 years old who took cannabis in the last 30 days, were hit by almost twice the number of heart attacks in comparison to non-using adults.

The research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests that cannabis consumers may be at an increased risk of heart attacks, irrespective of the mode of consumption.

Cannabis comes from the Cannabis sativa plant. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), it contains the psychoactive chemical, called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

The research studied more than 33,000 adults in the age group of 18 to 44, whose health data was included in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveys in the years 2017 and 2018.

As per the researchers, 17% of the adults had reported cannabis use in the last month. Out of this, 1.3% suffered heart attacks later. Of the non-users, only 0.8% suffered heart attacks.

As per the lead author Dr Karim Ladha, it is incorrect to assume that cannabis consumption is safe and cannot harm the body. He added that increasing evidence suggests that Cannabis consumption could “potentially be harmful to you, both in the short term and the long term.”

He pointed out that there is research that shows cannabis affects heart rate of a user. An irregular heart rate can increase the amount of oxygen needed by the heart. On the other hand, cannabis can limit how much oxygen can be delivered to the heart.

This mismatch of oxygen demand and supply fundamentally causes heart attacks, as per the lead author of the research.