Cannabis users more likely to die of heart disease, study reveals
Marijuana users are up to twice as likely to have a stroke, heart attack, or die from heart disease, research has revealed.
University of California scientists found there was a 29 per cent higher risk of conditions like heart attack, a 20 per cent higher risk for stroke and double the risk of dying from heart disease among cannabis users.
The study, published in Heart, reviewed 24 studies involving 200 million people to investigate the relationship between the drug and the diseases.
The researchers warned that the study 'raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk'.
The reviewed studies, which ranged from 2016 to 2023, included people aged between 19 and 59 years old.
The research did not specify if the marijuana exposure was from smoking the drug or other forms of consumption.
In 2023, the American College of Cardiology revealed that people who smoke marijuana or eat weed-laced edibles daily are a third more likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD).
CAD is the most common form of heart disease – cholesterol narrows the arteries supplying blood to the organ, causing chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue.
The significant link remained regardless of whether users smoked tobacco, drank alcohol, had major cardiovascular risk factors, and no matter their age or sex.
Whether users took cannabis by smoking the drug, eating edibles, or other methods also made no difference.
The American College of Cardiology researchers said people should let their doctors know if they use the drug, so clinicians can start monitoring heart health.
Dr Ishan Paranjpe, resident physician at Stanford University and the study's lead author, said: 'We found that cannabis use is linked to CAD, and there seems to be a dose-response relationship in that more frequent cannabis use is associated with a higher risk of CAD.
'In terms of the public health message, it shows that there are probably certain harms of cannabis use that weren't recognised before, and people should take that into account.
'From a scientific standpoint, these findings are exciting because they suggest there might be new drug targets and mechanisms we can explore to take control of this pathway going forward.'
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I think it's poisonous [and] it really only exists to make people feel bad about themselves, maybe under the guise of wanting to motivate people, but the impact is so painful.' She laughs as she describes the dishonesty of an influencer making a perfect packed lunch, filled with nutritious food – because it's actually 4pm, perhaps, or because they have nannies – that makes other parents, primarily mothers, feel as if they are failing. 'I would be in a puddle on the ground if we didn't have the nanny that we have, who is the reason my husband is shooting in London right now and I'm here,' says Williams. 'None of this is possible without her, and we're so grateful. I'm just like, show your work. Show me a clock. Like, what day was this filmed?' She is laughing, but she is on a roll. 'I cannot stand artifice about creating an expectation of what someone should be able to achieve that is totally unreasonable. Who is that helping?' On another episode, she says, they discuss ageing and unrealistic beauty standards: 'I talk about my love for Botox when I'm not filming, because, you know, you need to make facial expressions when you're shooting.' She laughs. 'But, right now, there's not a ton I can do with my forehead. But the idea that someone would look at me and be, like: 'I should be capable of that forehead.' No, you shouldn't! I'm not better than you because I have no wrinkles there, I just paid to put chemicals in my face. Let's be real about this.' I always think it's quite an achievement for famous people to hang on to pre-fame friends, once acclaim and money start getting in the way. Is it important to have 'normal' friends? 'I don't walk the world and feel like a celebrity,' says Williams. 'I think I did in my 20s, shooting and living in New York. But that isn't how I feel dropping our son off at preschool; I feel like a person among people. 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In the recent criticism of nepo babies, Williams has always been admirably upfront and unguarded about her advantages. 'Aside from all the many layers of privilege, high on the list is the fact that I could pursue a career in acting without being worried that I wasn't going to be able to feed myself. I had been surrounded by people who did what I wanted to do.' It didn't seem like an unreachable dream when Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, were family friends. When she was still at high school, she got a summer job as a production assistant on Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and got to be around its starry ensemble cast, which included Meryl Streep. 'Having had that experience gives you a leg-up when finally it's your turn and you have to know how to be on a set and how it all works.' Gratitude seems to be a defining theme in Williams' life. She is happy she is not starting out now. There was huge hype around Girls during its six-year run, which ended in 2017, but she can't imagine what that would be like with social media now. (Williams came off Instagram in 2020 – a time, she felt, when the platform was becoming more cynical and toxic.) It was, she says, as if there were 'a gazillion think pieces about every episode that we did – and most thought we all took ourselves too seriously. We were all pretty privileged people who were the leads of this HBO show that was definitely skewering our own, but we weren't given credit for that, or for being in on it.' Some of the criticism was valid – it was set in New York, yet was overwhelmingly white – but much of it was misogynistic and more. 'The shame is that, when it is coupled with misogyny and fatphobia and everything, the valid criticism gets lost.' Some of the coverage was so mean, she says with a laugh, especially on Gawker, which didn't describe the lead characters by their names, but as the daughters of the famous parent each actor had. 'We were easy targets, I get it.' For a while, Williams struggled with people assuming she was inseparable from her character, Marnie, a narcissist verging on sociopathy. 'I really desired to put distance between us, because I thought that was the kind of acting everybody respected – like, I'm wearing a prosthetic nose and I gained 40lbs, or whatever. And here [our characters] were, who looked basically like we looked and sounded like we sounded, but crucially said and did things that we would never do. It always felt weird that, since we didn't transform ourselves in some way, people weren't buying us playing characters.' Mostly though, she says, it was an amazing experience. Will there be a reunion? 'I would love it,' says Williams. 'I know that Zosia [Mamet, who played Shoshanna] has been pushing for a spin-off, which I would voraciously consume and try to elbow my way into. I kind of want us all back together. It was so fun and it was the beginning of my career, so I didn't have the perspective I have now on just how lucky we were, or to know how unusual a creative experience it was.' For those of us who loved Girls, I can think of nothing better – four hilarious, horrendous humans, no scary AI doll in sight. Allison Williams' podcast, Landlines, is available now. M3gan 2.0 is in cinemas on 27 June
