Cannabis users 29% more likely to experience heart risks, new study shows
A new study builds on previous research that shows marijuana usage can contribute to cardiovascular risks.
Research published in Heart, an international peer-reviewed journal, documents that adults who use cannabis are 29% more likely than nonusers to develop Acute Coronary Syndrome and 20% more likely than nonusers to suffer from stroke. Acute Coronary Syndrome is any condition brought on by a reduction or blockage of blood flow to the heart, which can result in heart attacks.
Researchers surveyed 24 studies conducted between 2016 and 2023 that involved more than 400 million participants, ranging mostly between 19 and 59, according to the study.
"Our findings are consistent with those from previous reviews, which outlined a positive association between cannabis use and cardiovascular disorders," the study states. "The increased awareness of this potential risk among cannabis users should encourage investigating such use in all patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders."
Marijuana news: New study finds cannabis edibles raise risk of premature heart disease
Simply put, not enough research has been conducted to determine just how marijuana affects the cardiovascular system. The research that has been done has largely been conducted on the effects of smoking cannabis, in contrast to other modes of consumption like edibles.
But generally, researchers understand that marijuana can make the heart beat faster and raise blood pressure, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Ahmed Mahmoud, a clinical instructor at Boston University, previously told USA TODAY that researchers believe marijuana may make small defects in the coronary arteries' lining, the thin layer of cells that forms the inner surface of blood vessels and hollow organs.
"Because cannabis increases the blood pressure and makes the blood run very fast and make some detects in the lining to the coronary arteries, this somehow could make a thrombosis (formation of a blood clot) or a temporary thrombosis in these arteries, which makes a cardiac ischemic (stroke) or the heart muscle is not getting enough oxygen to function," Mahmoud previously told USA TODAY. "This is what makes the heart injured and this is a myocardial infarction or heart attack."
Terms to know: Is marijuana the same as cannabis? What is THC?
The new study aligns with previous research about cannabis' effects on the cardiovascular system.
A study published earlier this year found that people under the age of 50 who consume marijuana are about 6.2 times more likely to experience a heart attack than nonusers. Young marijuana users are also 4.3 times more likely to experience an ischemic stroke and 2 times more likely to experience heart failure, the study shows.
And a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association last year found the same, that cannabis users are more likely to experience cardiovascular risks than those who do not partake.
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Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Using marijuana doubles the risk of dying from heart disease, according to a new analysis of pooled medical data involving 200 million people mostly between the ages of 19 and 59. 'What was particularly striking was that the concerned patients hospitalized for these disorders were young (and thus, not likely to have their clinical features due to tobacco smoking) and with no history of cardiovascular disorder or cardiovascular risk factors,' said senior author Émilie Jouanjus, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Toulouse, France, in an email. Compared to nonusers, those who used cannabis also had a 29% higher risk for heart attacks and a 20% higher risk for stroke, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Heart. 'This is one of the largest studies to date on the connection between marijuana and heart disease, and it raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk,' said pediatrician Dr. Lynn Silver, a clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco. 'Getting this right is critically important because cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death both in the United States and globally,' said Silver, who is also senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit public health organization that analyzes marijuana policy and legalization. Silver is the coauthor of an editorial published with the paper that calls for change in how cannabis is viewed by health professionals, regulatory bodies and the public at large. 'Clinicians need to screen people for cannabis use and educate them about its harms, the same way we do for tobacco, because in some population groups it's being used more widely than tobacco,' she said. 'Our regulatory system, which has been almost entirely focused on creating legal infrastructure and licensing legal, for-profit (cannabis) businesses, needs to focus much more strongly on health warnings that educate people about the real risks.' The new systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed medical information from large, observational studies conducted in Australia, Egypt, Canada, France, Sweden and the US between 2016 and 2023. Those studies did not ask people how they used cannabis — such as via smoking, vaping, dabbing, edibles, tinctures or topicals. (Dabbing involves vaporizing concentrated cannabis and inhaling the vapor.) However, 'based on epidemiological data, it is likely that cannabis was smoked in the vast majority of cases,' Jouanjus said. Smoking tobacco is a well-known cause of heart disease — both the smoke and the chemicals in tobacco damage blood vessels and increase clotting, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising that smoking, vaping or dabbing cannabis could do the same, Silver said: 'Any of the many ways of inhaling cannabis are going to have risks to the user, and there's also secondhand smoke risks, which are similar to tobacco.' The notion that smoking cannabis is less harmful because it's 'natural' is just wrong, Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. 'When you burn something, whether it is tobacco or cannabis, it creates toxic compounds, carcinogens, and particulate matter that are harmful to health,' Cohen said in an email. However, edibles may also play a role in heart disease, according to a May 2025 study. People who consumed edibles laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, showed signs of early cardiovascular disease similar to tobacco smokers. 'We found that vascular function was reduced by 42% in marijuana smokers and by 56% in THC-edible users compared to nonusers,' Dr. Leila Mohammadi, an assistant researcher in cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. None of the studies included in the new meta-analysis asked users about the potency of THC in the products they consume. Even if they had, that information would be quickly outdated, Silver said. 'The cannabis market is a moving target. It is getting more potent every day,' she said. 'What's being sold to people today in California is 5 to 10 times stronger than what it was in the 1970s. Concentrates can be 99% pure THC. Vapes are over 80% THC. 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