Pubdate: Sat, 12 Oct 2013
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.ie/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/213
Author: Gareth Naughton

STRONG CANNABIS 'CAUSING STROKES IN YOUNG PEOPLE'

HIGH-POTENCY cannabis is putting young people who use the drug 
heavily at risk of stroke, a leading specialist has told an inquest.

Consultant stroke physician Professor Joseph Harbison told Dublin 
Coroner's Court that doctors at St James's Hospital have seen "five 
or six cases" of young people having strokes following the use of 
herbal cannabis in the past three years. The strokes may be linked to 
the increased potency of cannabis available in Ireland over that 
period, he said.

He was speaking at the inquest into the death of 33year-old Noel 
Boylan, of Oliver Bond House, Dublin 8, who collapsed on Thomas 
Street in the city centre on August 17 last year. Mr Boylan was taken 
to St James's Hospital where he was treated for a suspected seizure 
but later developed a stroke.

He died in the hospital on September 2 when a blood clot travelled to 
his lungs.

Following his death, Prof Harbison requested that a postmortem be 
carried out because Mr Boylan had been a regular cannabis smoker.

The drug has been linked to strokes in young people but it is not known why.

Until Mr Boylan's death, it had not been possible to study the blood 
vessels affected in the brain because few young people died from 
stroke and brain biopsies were dangerous, the court heard.

When the blood vessel was examined by a neuropathologist, it was 
found that the lining had "grossly thickened" and blocked off the 
artery, resulting in the stroke.

Prof Harbison said that this echoed findings in another of his 
patients, a heavy cannabis user who had had a blood vessel outside 
the brain biopsied after surviving a stroke. This raised concerns 
that the potency of cannabis available here is affecting heavy users 
by irritating the lining of blood vessels.

"The cannabis available in and around Ireland at the moment is 
typically hydroponically grown (grown in water) and has a very high 
potency... I now strongly suspect that we are seeing the consequences 
of younger people developing an arteriopathy (arterial disease) 
related to the direct irritant effects of this new potent cannabis," he said.

Facts

Returning a narrative verdict outlining the facts, coroner Dr Brian 
Farrell said more research into the link between high-potency 
cannabis and stroke was needed and he hoped the case would generate 
debate in the medical community.

Speaking afterwards, Prof Harbison said he did not believe irregular 
users of the drug were at risk: "There is a level of concern that 
there is an association with particularly heavy users.

"We are seeing people coming in with strokes where we cannot find any 
cause but their cannabis use. This case and the other case leads you 
to think that there is a direct organic effect to it," he said.
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