Alcohol consumption is at an all-time low, according to Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend, and cannabis consumption is in1. There’s even a name for the trend — “California sober” refers to those who choose not to drink alcohol but do smoke weed. And why not? Modern wisdom claims that cannabis isn’t addictive, and that the all-natural substance can even provide health benefits thanks to its activation of the endocannabinoid system.
But it turns out that cannabis isn’t as risk-free as we might like to believe, especially when it comes to heart health. A new research review in Heart shows that cannabis is an “important risk factor” for cardiovascular disease. In fact, the numbers show that the health effects of cannabis include the potential to increase risk of heart attack and stroke by over 20 percent — and even double the risk of cardiovascular disease death2.
“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,” senior author Émilie Jouanjus, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Toulouse, France, told CNN3.
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The Impact of Cannabis Consumption on Heart Health
The research review analyzes 24 large observational studies published between January 2016 and December 2023 on the health effects of weed, including one case-control study.
These findings echo similar results published in March of this year, when a meta-analysis of 12 previously published studies presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session showed that cannabis users younger than age 50 were over six times as likely to suffer a heart attack compared to non-users4. So is cannabis bad for your heart? The numbers suggest it is.
How Does Cannabis Impact Heart Health?
The means by which cannabis impacts heart health are not yet fully understood, but there are a few known factors at play. Studies have shown that cannabis can lead to inflammation by way of its activation of cannabinoid receptor 1, a part of the human endocannabinoid system that controls neurotransmitters in the brain. When THC, the active compound in cannabis, activates this receptor, it can promote inflammation and cell death, a 2010 study in the British Journal of Pharmacology shows5. This link was confirmed by 2022 research in Cell6.
In May, UC San Francisco researchers conducted a study on 55 cannabis consumers that was published in JAMA Cardiology7. They found that cannabis consumption can also reduce blood vessel function to an extent comparable to tobacco smoking.
Whether consumed in edible form or smoked, the study authors found, cannabis reduced vascular function roughly by half. Decreased vascular function is associated with a greater risk of heart attack, hypertension, and other cardiovascular conditions.
This study crucially focused exclusively on cannabis consumers who did not also use any form of nicotine, which reduces any skewed results that could surface. However, the rising prevalence of cannabis and tobacco being used together is also something to be aware of, as the negative effects on the vascular system could compound. Using both tobacco and cannabis has been associated with a range of changes in physical, psychological, and behavioral outcomes, especially as they relate to learning and memory8.
The Risks of Cannabis Consumption Outweigh the Benefits
But wait, you might be thinking, aren’t there also a lot of studies that say cannabis can be good for you? Well, you’re not wrong. Weed and health benefits do go hand-in-hand, to an extent. A 2021 study in Molecules highlighted its therapeutic potential in counteracting oxidative stress and inflammation9, and cannabis can also be used to treat anxiety disorders10, reduce neuropathic pain11, combat alcoholism12, relieve depression symptoms13, alleviate the side effects of cancer treatments14, and offset some symptoms of multiple sclerosis15.
But for experts, these benefits are offset by the cardiovascular risks. Evidence for these risks has been mounting as we continue to study the effects of cannabis consumption. This, according to a recent review in Nature Reviews Cardiology, is in large part thanks to recent changes in regulations that have led to more widespread access and consumption over the past 30 years16. These changes have made it easier to study the side-effects of weed long-term.
The Call for Preventative Measures
For the researchers, the results of these studies on cannabis long-term effects are worrisome enough to warrant preventative measures on a legislative level — especially considering cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death both in the U.S. and worldwide.
“Cannabis needs to be incorporated into the framework for prevention of clinical cardiovascular disease,” write the authors of the new research review in a linked editorial18. “Effective product warnings and education on risks must be developed, required, and implemented.”
They call for cannabis to be treated “like tobacco: not criminalised, but discouraged, with protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure.” These recommendations echo those made by Ibrahim Kamel, MD, the lead author of a retrospective study on the same topic published in March in JACC Advances.
“Asking about cannabis use should be part of clinicians’ workup to understand patients’ overall cardiovascular risk, similar to asking about smoking cigarettes,” he said. “At a policy level, a fair warning should be made so that the people who are consuming cannabis know that there are risks.”
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Sources:
- https://news.gallup.com/poll/693362/drinking-rate-new-low-alcohol-concerns-surge.aspx
- https://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2025/06/10/heartjnl-2025-326169
- https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/17/health/marijuana-heart-death-wellness
- https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2025/03/17/15/35/Cannabis-Users-Face-Substantially-Higher-Risk
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2931565/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422004433
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2834540?guestAccessKey=dac54772-2c2f-4c3a-9cdc-db8ae3c445d1
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4861316/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8347461/
- https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2022/august/medicinal-cannabis
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10773353/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395920303017
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272735816300939?via%3Dihub
- https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2024/medical-cannabis-oncologists-patients-communication
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9148011/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-025-01121-6
- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00161-4/abstract
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/17/cannabis-use-could-double-risk-of-heart-deaths-study-suggests
