‘Cannabis is as bad for the heart as cigarettes’

CANNABIS has been dubbed ‘the new tobacco’ by doctors after a raft of new research revealed it is as damaging to the heart as smoking cigarettes.

In regular users, the drug was found to increase blood pressure and heart rate significantly in a similar way that heavy smoking does, according to the results of one study. In the trial, scientists in Canada – where recreational use is legal – gave 21 otherwise healthy volunteers who smoked cannabis frequently a ‘vape’ containing the drug. A single session of inhaling it was enough to alter the part of nervous system responsible for blood pressure and pulse, according to scans.

The changes could be enough to increase the risk of a heart attack in less healthy patients, they warned. In another study,

American researchers examined almost 35 million hospital records. It found that the odds of cannabis users developing acute coronary syndrome – including heart attacks and angina – was the same as for heavy cigarette smokers.

American Heart Association medicines expert Professor

Robert Page said he believed cannabis was ‘absolutely the new tobacco’, in terms of heart risk. He said: ‘Cannabis is a psychotropic drug that not only has an impact on the brain but also the nervous system, so what we’re seeing in these studies makes a lot of sense.’