Study: Pot Use Could Lead to Heart Problems
A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that smoking marijuana could be bad for your heart.
The data from the French Addictovigilance Network, a national system of centers in France that gathers information about drug abuse, found that from 2006 through 2010, 35 patients suffered heart problems thought to be a result of marijuana use. Nine people died.
The study's lead researcher Emilie Jouanjus said more research needs to be done on the correlation of pot and heart problems.
"What I think is very important from my work is that we see cannabis use may lead to very serious complications on the cardiovascular system," Jouanjus said.
"I'm not saying that any user of cannabis would suffer from (cardiovascular) complications," she said. But "we do not have enough information to say that cannabis use is safe."
Meanwhile, Dr. Allen Taylor, chief of cardiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, told CNN in an e-mail that the study isn't conclusive.
"This study shows some preliminary evidence of cardiovascular harm from marijuana but isn't conclusive," Dr. Taylor said.
"The study's limitations are important in that we can't know how high the risk is, just that there is a signal of risk between marijuana smoking and heart troubles," she continued.
