Marijuana Smoking Could Double Your Risk Of Stroke

By Dennis Romero Thu., Feb. 7 2013 at 10:05 AM

Jimmay Bones / Flickr

Bad news for Los Angeles, the medical marijuana capital of the nation.

A new study says using weed could more than double your chance of having a stroke. Maybe.

According to the fresh research from the University of Auckland presented to an American Stroke Association meeting in Hawaii this week ...

... a look at 160 stroke victims ages 18 to 55 found they were 2.3 times more likely to have cannabis in their systems than not.

But, and this is a huge, Kardashian-sized BUT, researchers were unable to distinguish between marijuana and tobacco because those patients who had weed in their systems also smoked cigarettes.

And tobacco has already been linked to higher incidences of stroke.

Alejandro D / Flickr

Researchers looked at the subjects' urine samples to determine what they had smoked. So is the kush or Carltons?

It's not clear, but P. Alan Barber, the study's lead investigator, has his hunch:

We believe it is the cannabis and not tobacco. This may prove difficult given the risks of bias and ethical strictures of studying the use of an illegal substance. However, the high prevalence of cannabis use in this cohort of younger stroke patients makes this research imperative.

He recommends caution for the cannabis nation:

People need to think twice about using cannabis.

Yeah? No. We tried ...

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

marijuana, medical marijuana, stroke, study

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mywindow

This story is "Regurgitated Garbage"; This BS study shows nothing of the sort. It did say

"The study included 160 ischemic stroke/TIA patients 18-55 years old who had urine screens upon admission to the hospital. Among the patients, 150 had ischemic stroke and 10 had TIAs. Sixteen percent of patients had positive drug screens, mostly male who also smoked tobacco. Only 8.1 percent of controls tested positive for cannabis in urine samples. Researchers found no differences in age, stroke mechanism or most vascular risk factors between marijuana users and non-users." and "it MAY lead to stroke" --- Since the study is not posted online.

http://newsroom.heart.org/news/smoking-marijuana-associated-with-higher-stroke-risk-in-young-adults

150 patients does not make scientific fact. Without a study in hand and details about the funding this is just another "Theory".

fredquarters topcommenter

Let me see, last month it was testicular cancer, the month before it was schizophrenia, before that brain damage, before that...... And now absolutely maybe, stroke.

argmyeye

Just a lot of garbage. As many pot smokers as there are and have been out there, you'd imagine somebody would have picked up on any real correlation long, long ago. At least they were honest enough to say they couldn't prove a relation, and they just wanted to say it was cannabis because dude had a "hunch'. Just a headline designed to grab people's attention. And it worked.

jfgr8ful

BS.....

reach4thegoal

2.3 times more likely is not alot. not by far. and when they say "double your chance of stroke" Maybe" They dont have enough information to even consider making this article public. The people that were in their report from 18 to 55 years old that had THC in their system while having a stroke can come from no proof of coincidence (think i spelled it correct) because THC can stay in your system for more then a month depending upon the type of user. I smoke marijuana because it helps me when iam about to have a seizure, (yes i get, well sometimes get an aura feeling and if i can get it to my lungs my seizure wont happen. But sometimes i dont get the aura and after i wake up with a bloody head some pot really helps my headache)