“Cannabis use is not as benign and safe as some might think,” said study author Nicholas Vozoris, an assistant and clinician and researcher in the Department of Respirology at the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
“Our study shows that the use of this substance is associated with serious negative results, in particular visits to the ED (emergency department) and hospitalizations,” Vozoris said in an email.
Compared to people who have not used marijuana, cannabis users are 22% more likely to visit an emergency department or be hospitalized, the study found.
The finding remains true even after adjusting the analysis for more than 30 other confusing factors, including other illicit drug use, alcohol use and smoking.
“Physical injuries were the leading cause of emergency room visits and hospitalizations among cannabis users, with respiratory causes in second place,” Vozoris said.
Marijuana smokers have higher levels in their blood and urine of several smoke-related toxins, such as naphthalene, acrylamide and acrylonitrile, than non-smokers, a 2021 study found. Naphthalene has been linked to anemia, liver and neurological damage, while acrylamide and Acrylonitrile has been linked to cancer and other health problems. Another study last year found that teens were about twice as likely to report “wheezing or wheezing” after burning marijuana than after smoking cigarettes or using e-cigarettes.
Increasing volume of research
A number of studies have shown a link between marijuana use and injury, both physical and mental.
Severe marijuana use by teenagers and young people with mood disorders – such as depression and bipolar disorder – is associated with an increased risk of self-harm, suicide attempts and death, according to a 2021 study.
Another 2021 study found that regular cannabis users, including teenagers, are increasingly appearing in emergency rooms complaining of severe intestinal distress, known as “cannabis hyperemesis syndrome” or CHS.
The condition causes nausea, severe abdominal pain and prolonged vomiting, “which can last for hours,” said Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist and toxicologist at Colorado Children’s Hospital, in a previous interview with CNN.
A review published earlier this year looked at studies on more than 43,000 people and found a negative effect of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, on higher levels of thinking in the brain.
For young people, this impact may “therefore lead to reduced educational attainment and, in adults, to poor job performance and dangerous driving. These effects can be worse for regular and heavy users, “co-author Dr. Alexandre Dumas, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Montreal, told CNN in a previous interview.
At a time when health systems are already stretched around the world after the Covid pandemic and with difficult economic times … cannabis use is increasing worldwide, “Vozoris said.
“The results of our study should raise” alarm bells “in the minds of the public, health professionals and political leaders,” he said in an email.
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