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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Smoking cannabis 'raises heart attack risk'
The Telegraph
Tuesday 12 Jun 2001 Smoking cannabis 'raises heart attack risk' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor SMOKING cannabis can increase the risk of a heart attack within an hour by up to five times, scientists reported yesterday. These findings may become more relevant as baby boomers, who are more likely than previous generations to smoke marijuana, enter the age at which heart disease is more common, according to a study of almost 4,000 people published in Circulation. Studies conducted more than 30 years ago showed that marijuana use could provoke angina, or chest pain. Smoking marijuana has been shown to increase heart rate and alter blood pressure. It may also trigger a heart attack. Marijuana is associated with an increase in the heart's demand for oxygen, while at the same time decreasing the oxygen supply. Some marijuana-associated heart attacks may be caused by an oxygen supply to the heart that is inadequate to cope with the increased demands that occur as a result of smoking the drug. Although the relative risk does not appear to vary with age, the absolute increase in risk associated with smoking marijuana is greater for people whose risk is higher to begin with. Dr Murray Mittleman, director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston: "People's risk for coronary artery disease increases as they enter their 40s and 50s. So the risks associated with smoking marijuana, which might have been a trivial issue when people were younger, may now pose a significant health concern."
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