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CMAJ September 07, 2021 193 (35) E1377-E1384; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.202392
Abstract
Background: Cannabis use is increasing among young adults, but its effects on cardiovascular health are poorly understood. We aimed to assess the association between recent cannabis use and history of myocardial infarction (MI) in young adults (aged 18–44 yr).
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using pooled data from the 2017 and 2018 cohorts of the American Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey of US adults. We analyzed the association between any recent cannabis use and history of MI using a weighted logistic regression model that adjusted for demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, health-related behaviours, concomitant substance use and other comorbidities. We also assessed this association after stratifying by frequency of use and by primary method of consumption.
Results: A history of MI was more frequent among recent cannabis users relative to nonusers A history of MI was associated with cannabis use of more than 4 times per month and with smoking as a primary method of consumption
Interpretation: Our study provides evidence supporting an association between recent cannabis use and history of MI in young adults. Increasing cannabis use in an at-risk population could have negative implications for cardiovascular health.
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A study in the journal Neuropharmacology analyzing the public health impacts of marijuana legalization in the United States found the following developments have resulted due to the change in drug policy towards the substance:
Highlights
- Perceived risk of cannabis use has declined in adolescents and adults over time.
- Potency has increased and prices decreased in legal and illicit cannabis products.
- Traffic fatalities involving cannabis increased in some states post-legalisation.
- More presentations to medical services related to regular cannabis use.
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Background: Vulnerability to COVID-19 hospitalization has been linked to behavioral risk factors, including combustible psychoactive substance use (e.g., tobacco smoking). Paralleling the COVID-19 pandemic crisis have been increasingly permissive laws for recreational cannabis use. Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is a psychiatric disorder that is heritable and genetically correlated with respiratory disease, independent of tobacco smoking. We examined the genetic relationship between CUD and COVID-19 hospitalization.
Conclusions: Problematic cannabis use and vulnerability to serious COVID-19 complications share genetic underpinnings that are unique from common correlates. While CUD may plausibly contribute to severe COVID-19 presentations, causal inference models yielded no evidence of putative causation. Curbing excessive cannabis use may mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
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Results: Higher average exposure to MM advertising was associated with higher average use, intentions to use, positive expectancies, and negative consequences. Similarly, higher rates of change in MM advertising exposure were associated with higher rates of change in use, intentions, expectancies, and consequences over seven years.
Conclusions: Results suggest that exposure to MM advertising may not only play a significant role in shaping attitudes about marijuana, but may also contribute to increased marijuana use and related negative consequences throughout adolescence. This highlights the importance of considering regulations for marijuana advertising, similar to regulations in place for the promotion of tobacco and alcohol in the U.S.
(Dalgarno Institute Comment: Permission models always and without exception create a level of psycho-social contagion leading to a higher chance of product engagement. Permission is still the most effective founding motivator for consumption in play and corporations have known this for well over 150 years.
American writer and cultural critic Ambrose Beirce commented around the turn of the 20th century that, “A Corporation is an ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility.” These corporations have also understood (and particularly the addiction for profit industries) like alcohol and tobacco, that kids must be your target audience. Big Tobacco player R.J. Reynolds stated in in 1975 that, “Share penetration among 14 –24 age market….represents tomorrow’s cigarette business”. And the now famous principle authored by CEO Bennet Leslow of the Brook Group is that, “If you are really and truly not going to sell to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years.”
Big Tobacco 2.0 – Big Cannabis – are desperate to get their addiction for profit product into the currents of trade, alongside the other socially acceptable drugs that do the greatest harms (because they are legal and socially acceptable) alcohol and tobacco. As you see with the above study and many others, the pernicious process is only the beginning of the harms that will come from this highly engineered substance.)
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Press release issued: 19 August 2021
Teenagers who use cannabis frequently may be more likely to have children born preterm, when they become parents up to twenty years later, finds a new University of Bristol-led study. The research, published in Scientific Reports, repeatedly assessed 665 participants in a general population cohort on their tobacco and cannabis use between ages 14 to 29 years, before pregnancy.
- Identifying the Harm of Marijuana Legalization and Potential Responses for Prevention Scientist
- High-THC Cannabis Concentrates and Their (Scary) Effect on the Teenage Brain
- Cannabis Leads in Race to Psychotic Disorders – Rates and Predictors of Conversion to Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder Following Substance-Induced Psychosis
- Changes in cannabis use modes among Canadian youth across recreational cannabis legalization: Data from the COMPASS prospective cohort study