How to think about cannabis and heart health

On Feb. 24, Stanford University publicists issued a press release that researchers found an association between daily cannabis use and a 34 percent increase in coronary heart disease. Is that true? And how does the heart risk of cannabis compare to other lifestyle choices, medications, or strenuous activities like shoveling snow?

Listen as Leafly Director of Science and Innovation, Nick Jikomes PhD, explains why the study has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal and comes in amid mixed data on the topic. Learn more about the harmful cycle of science reporting via press release. And understand the other heart studies and background information about cannabis and the heart.

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Top consumer tips:

• Wait for the full peer-reviewed study
• Compare how the results compare to other studies
• an association is not the same as causality
• pay attention to modality (smoking versus vaping, edibles)
• Pay attention to the dose (high doses can affect your body differently than low doses). “The dose is important, so start low and go slow,” Jikomes said.
• Ask your doctor about recreational activities or medications if you have heart problems
• and consider a flower vaporizer. Flower vaping produced with the PAX or Volcano far, far less toxic by-products of combustion than smoking. “You’re not going to get a lot of that nasty stuff that comes with lighting plant matter,” Jikomes said.