Marijuana Use and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Marijuana is currently the most used illicit substance in the world. With the current trend of decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in the US, physicians in the US will encounter more patients using marijuana recreationally over a diverse range of ages and health states. Therefore, it is relevant to review marijuana's effects on human cardiovascular physiology and disease. Compared with placebo, marijuana cigarettes cause increases in heart rate, supine systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and forearm blood flow via increased sympathetic nervous system activity. These actions increase myocardial oxygen demand to a degree that they can decrease the time to exercise-induced angina in patients with a history of stable angina. In addition, marijuana has been associated with triggering myocardial infarctions (MIs) in young male patients. Smoking marijuana has been shown to increase the risk of MI onset by a factor of 4.8 for the 60 minutes after marijuana consumption, and to increase the annual risk of MI in the daily cannabis user from 1.5% to 3% per year. Human and animal models suggest that this effect may be due to coronary arterial vasospasm. However, longitudinal studies have indicated that marijuana use may not have a significant effect on long-term mortality. While further research is required to definitively determine the impact of marijuana on cardiovascular disease, it is reasonable to recommend against recreational marijuana use, especially in individuals with a history of coronary artery disorders.

Focus on cannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids

“…Following SCs intake, sinus tachycardia is the most frequent incident reported, with an overall 40% prevalence. Hypertension is often concomitant, up to one‐fourth of cases . Based on experimental data and compared to the effects of smoking marijuana, hypertension was not the more frequent change in blood pressure that is expected and the exact mechanism of occurrence remains to be clarified.…”

Legalize marijuana without the smoke

“…3,5 A recent review suggested that smoking marijuana increases the risk of MI onset by a factor of 4.8 for the 60 minutes after marijuana consumption, and increases the annual risk of MI in the daily marijuana user from 1.5% to 3% per year. 6 Does all this mean marijuana should not be legalized? Absolutely not.…”

Cardiovascular effects of cannabis (marijuana): A timely update

“…Despite marijuana users being of male gender mainly and with less stress than nonusers, when faced with stress, cardiomyopathy users were more likely to go into cardiac arrest (2.4% vs. 0.8%) and to require an implanted defibrillator (2.4% vs. 0.6%). This study did have its limitations because researchers were unable to determine how frequently marijuana users were using marijuana, or what the timeframe was between the use of marijuana and occurrence of stress cardiomyopathy (Franz & Frishman, ).…”