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Cannabis and Heart Health

Key Points

  • Cannabis can make the heart beat faster and can raise blood pressure immediately after use.
  • More research is needed to understand the full impact of cannabis use on the cardiovascular system to determine if cannabis use leads to higher risk of death.

Cannabis Use and Heart Health

Cannabis can make the heart beat faster and can raise blood pressure immediately after use.12 It could also increase risk of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular diseases.34567 Most of the scientific studies linking cannabis to heart attacks and strokes are based on reports from people who smoked cannabis (as opposed to other methods of administration). Cannabis smoke contains many of the same substances researchers have found in tobacco smoke, which are harmful to the lungs and cardiovascular system.89

It is hard to separate the effects of cannabis chemicals like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids on the cardiovascular system from those caused by the irritants and other chemicals present in the smoke. More research is needed to understand the full impact of cannabis use on the cardiovascular system to determine if cannabis use leads to higher risk of death.

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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
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  7. Rumalla K, Reddy AY, Mittal MK. Recreational marijuana use and acute ischemic stroke: a population-based analysis of hospitalized patients in the United States. J Neurol Sci. 2016;364:191-196. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2016.01.066.
  8. Moir D, Rickert WS, Levasseur G, et al. A comparison of mainstream and sidestream marijuana and tobacco cigarette smoke produced under two machine smoking conditions. Chem Res Toxicol. 2008;21(2):494-502. doi: 10.1021/tx700275p.
  9. Lushniak BD, Samet JM, Pechacek TF. et al. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA. 2014.