Marijuana "Said" to Trigger Heart Attacks

source:http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/03.02/marijuana.html

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Marijuana Said to Trigger Heart Attacks

By William J. Cromie
Gazette Staff

Marijuana can be hard on the heart. In the first hour after smoking pot, a person’s risk of a heart attack could rise almost five times, according to a Harvard University researcher.

As baby boomers born in the late 1940s and early 1950s reach the age at which heart disease is the leading cause of sickness and death, "we may see an increase in marijuana-associated heart attacks," says Murray Mittleman, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. The possible medical uses of the drug are receiving more and more attention. Mittleman thinks such use may be a bad idea for people with heart disease.The danger exists in the first hour after smoking pot, Mittleman told an American Heart Association meeting in San Diego today (March 2). "It causes the heart rate to increase by about 40 beats a minute," he says. "Blood pressure increases then abruptly falls when the person stands up. This could precipitate a heart attack."Mittleman noted that, as an immediate trigger for heart attack, pot smoking is nearly twice as dangerous as sex for a sedentary person, exercise for a fit male or female, a tantrum of rage, or a bout of anxiety. But it’s less risky than a spurt of exercise for a couch potato or a snort of cocaine. Despite the high percentage of people younger than 50 years old who report they use the drug – 12.5 percent – Mittleman doesn’t foresee an epidemic of pot-triggered heart attacks. For a 50-year-old baby boomer without other risk factors, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, the absolute risk of having a heart attack in the crucial first hour after smoking marijuana is one in 100,000, he says. These findings come from a study of 3,882 people who survived heart attacks. It was conducted at a number of centers around the country, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where Mittleman works. In the study, 124 people reported using marijuana regularly. Of these, 37 people said they used it within 24 hours of their heart attacks. Nine said they smoked it within an hour of their attacks. From this data, the researchers conclude that the relative risk of a heart attack jumped 4.8 times within the first hour after smoking, then dropped to 1.7 times in the second hour. That’s still double the risk, but the drop indicates that the danger declines rapidly. Mittleman admits he can’t explain exactly how pot could trigger a heart attack. It might be due to cannabis, the active ingredient of marijuana, or merely the smoke from a burning plant, he says. Smoking marijuana and tobacco both involve the latter, and both are now implicated in raising the risk of heart disease.

hmm...I bought a measure for blood pressure and pulse(heart beat per minute) and it was like standing in the article up there...my beat per minute increased by 30 beats per minute (from 70 to 100 in the morning, but was going back to normal and healthy 80 after 30 minutes...like when doing sports) in my case but blood pressure just fall from my too high 150/80 to 125/80(by the way I used about 0.25 gr of good indoor quality)and this one is really better than the first measure without smoking...for my point of view I just learned something about and beeing safe with it...cause next joint I didnt smoke so fast as first and problem wwas not so intense and after all I heard from real older smokers and that what happened to jack herer(dont know wheter he smoked befor his heart attack) its better to know what CAN happened I dont say it will but when real old its not so harmless as many believe I see...like allways dont use to much then its not unhealthy...and for people with heat disease it can be carefull...I know from a friends friends who really suffere d a heart attack after smoking a lot with his heart disease...R.I.P
and ganja for ur question where are all these heart attacks...cause its after cancer the second most cause of death for people over 50 not everyone will bet testet wheter they smoked mariujana and cause in the most countrys its illegal people will not go to hospital and say that they have smoked marijuana before and secondary people couldnt imagine that I happened from that .
nut before everyone her in thhe forum begins to shou im too a men who wants still legalization but we have to check out every possible thing to be thruly for all the peops in the world otherewise it will not be possible to legalize it and cause I tried by myself what happend with blood pressure and heartbit seroius studies should check them out...maybee in holland where its tolerated would be the place to make again some studies...just for beeing serious and not fanatic just as well
cheers

I hope your right but I think its important that peops now about heartrate and falling bloodpressure...you know I had smoke nearly 10 years all days and very much and then I had problems with heart rate and blood pressure so I thought its better to inform the people here...just that and nothing else and ....
for me it would be great that there can nothing happend from smoking coz after that what happened to me I cannot more enjoying smoking...its a piity for me

however theres no real recorded fatalities of cannabis use abd there never will, but when compared to the mortalities that other drugs cause such as alcahol which my farther sadly enjoyed too much. Smoking the ciggerette clogs up arteries along with fatty foods and full fat butterwhich all increase the risk of heart failure, in my opinion let us not worry about the proclaimed negative effects our ancient cannabis could give us. but i enojoyed reading this topic :D

i think we'd be pretty screwed sarah :D i love my bread and water :D