Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Page: D3

STUDY LINKS POT USE TO INCREASED RISK FOR HEART ATTACKS

Over a five-year period, a government-mandated tracking system in
France showed that physicians in that country treated 1,979 patients
for serious health problems associated with the use of marijuana, and
nearly 2 percent of those encounters were with patients suffering from
cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, cardiac arrhythmia
and stroke, and circulation problems in the arms and legs. In roughly
a quarter of those cases, the study found, the patient died.

In the United States, when young and otherwise healthy patients show
up in emergency departments with symptoms of heart attack, stroke,
cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmia, physicians have frequently
noted in case reports that these unusual patients are regular
marijuana users.

Such reporting is hardly the basis for declaring marijuana use an
outright cause of cardiovascular disease. But last week, cardiologists
writing in the Journal of the American Heart Association warned that
"clinical evidence ... suggests the potential for serious
cardiovascular risks associated with marijuana use."

And with a growing movement to decriminalize marijuana use, they
called for data-collection efforts capable of detecting and measuring
marijuana's cardiovascular effect among American users of cannabis
sativa. Voters in Washington and Colorado last year passed initiatives
legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and pot advocates are
proposing similar initiatives in other states.

"There is now compelling evidence on the growing risk of
marijuana-associated adverse cardiovascular effects, especially in
young people," said Emilie Jouanjus, lead author of the French study,
which was also published in the Journal of the American Heart
Association. That evidence, Jouanjus added, should prompt
cardiologists to consider marijuana use a potential cause of
cardiovascular disease in patients they see.

In an editorial published Wednesday in the American Heart Association
journal, Drs. Sherief Rezkalla and Robert A. Kloner asked, "Do we
really know enough about the cardiovascular effects of marijuana to
feel comfortable about its use in patients with known cardiovascular
disease or patients with cardiovascular risk factors," including
obesity, sedentary behavior, high blood pressure and worrisome
cholesterol numbers.

Rezkalla and Kloner combed the recent medical literature for animal
experiments, observational studies and case reports linking marijuana
use in close temporal proximity with cardiovascular events. They cited
evidence that marijuana use probably increases clotting factors in the
blood and that heavy marijuana use may lead to significant changes in
the tiny vessels carrying blood to the heart and brain, such that even
after clearance of a major blockage, blood flow remains impeded.

"We think the time has come to stop and think about what is the best
way to protect our communities from the potential danger of widespread
marijuana use in the absence of safety studies," added Rezkalla, a
cardiologist at the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, and Kloner, a
cardiologist at the University of Southern California's Keck School of
Medicine. "It is the responsibility of the medical community to
determine the safety of the drug before it is widely legalized for
recreational use."

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