Is Weed Bad For You?

This finding stands in apparent contrast to previous reports suggesting that marijuana use can serve as a trigger for acute coronary syndromes and marijuana-related vascular complications that are associated with elevated mortality 17, 49. Rumalla et al. By effectively helping people manage their chronic pain, medical marijuana may allow patients to avoid these complications and lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. This suggests that complications arising from the use of multiple substances may lead to adverse health outcomes. 19 observed that marijuana users were more likely to use other illicit substances compared with non-users although they had less overall comorbidities. Permission to possess and use marijuana is excluded from the state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which reports all other prescriptions for controlled substances. The 1970 Controlled Substance Act (CSA) lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug with no accepted medical use and places it in the same lethal category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. However, a wide range of credentialed studies and clinical trials contradict the CSA in proving the drug's health benefits. However, given the plethora of literature revealing marijuana’s potential to adversely affect health, I do not believe current evidence would support the practice of teaching patients or the public that non-medical use of marijuana offers health benefits.

It is also possible that among older, sicker adults, marijuana use not accompanied by other illicit or harmful risk factors such as cocaine and/or alcohol use 55, but is associated with some health benefits such as reduced risk of adverse cardiac outcomes. They offered various explanations for this finding, including a possible “training effect” that may enable marijuana smokers to more completely fill their lungs during inspiration (Pletcher et al., 2012, p. Marijuana may be able to help ease some of these withdrawal symptoms such as terrible nausea, pain, and mood swings. That's because CBD was used to successfully treat the symptoms of Charlotte Figi, reducing her seizures from 300 per week to only one per week. As one of only three prominent vaccines to reach efficacy of 90%, there looks to be a clear path to Novavax becoming a major global player in the fight against COVID. All three words (cannabis, marijuana and hemp) are often used interchangeably. The three that had indicated medical problems in the 30 days before admission went from a mean of 4.375 days with medical problems to zero. To add to the list of problems induced by cannabis, a recent study has claimed that smoking cannabis can cause serious damage to the vascular system and can lead to faster aging.

As the disease progresses, more symptoms surface including severe memory loss, confusion, irritability, mood swings, and speech problems. 2012); however, they also reported marijuana smoking is linked to a number of respiratory symptoms and advised against recreational use. 2012) found no association between modest levels of use and impaired function. Denson and Earleywine (2006) found that marijuana use by adults does not appear to increase the risk for depression; the authors acknowledged that the Marijuana Policy Project provided funding for this study. There is significant interest in examining the health effects of marijuana among adults in general, but more importantly among those with health conditions or chronic diseases. The vast majority of studies examining the potential adverse effects of marijuana use on health have assessed cardiac-related conditions, and several have documented increased risks of cerebrovascular events associated with marijuana use, ranging from transient ischemic events to strokes 18, 19, 41, 42. However, other studies have failed to observe any increased risk of adverse health outcomes associated with marijuana use 43, 44. Conflicting results may be due to major differences in study population, underlying health status, source of data on marijuana use (e.g., self-reported vs. Second, the associations between marijuana use and health outcomes were assessed using clinical claims data in a nationally representative dataset, with detailed adjustment for multiple confounders.

Second, we evaluate the relationships between a clinical diagnosis of marijuana use with clinical outcomes using the NIS database between 2007 and 2011. The NIS databases are based on the ICD-9-CM coding system, which has been used in the US since 1979. To comply with recent rules on adoption of the ICD-10-CM, the NIS databases also replaced the current ICD-9-CM coding system beginning from October 1, 2015 58. Third, our operational definition of marijuana use relied exclusively on ICD-9-CM codes documented in the NIS databases. First, the analyses were based on a database of inpatient hospitalizations and therefore only health outcomes that were captured during inpatient admissions were included in this study. For instance, a previous study comparing the incidence of acute ischemic stroke between marijuana users and non-users focused only on young patients (age groups 15-54) 19, while other studies have examined stroke outcomes in elderly individuals, which are usually thromboembolic or related to carotid artery disease 45 in contrast with the intracranial vascular etiology in younger patients 46-48. Therefore, the influence of marijuana use on cardiac outcomes may vary by age due to differing etiological factors.

19, we observed significantly higher odds of strokes among marijuana users compared with non-users among adult hospitalized patients, however, this association was not significant among cancer patients. The odds of in-hospital mortality were significantly reduced among marijuana users compared with non-users overall, and among cancer patients. Other studies where marijuana use was linked with adverse health outcomes such as myocardial infarction and death also reported that patients tended to be younger and have additional risk factors, such as cocaine, tobacco, and alcohol use 17, 50. For example, an almost fivefold increased risk for myocardial infarction within the hour after marijuana use was reported by Mittleman and colleagues, although the risk decreased after the initial hour post-use 50. Similarly, a 4.2-fold increase in mortality rate was observed in marijuana users compared with non-users following myocardial infarction 16. The coronary effects of marijuana exposure have also been linked to cardiac arrhythmias and/or sudden cardiac death, although these appear to be relatively rare events 51, 52. Our finding of an inverse association between marijuana use.

Our study addresses some of these limitations by focusing on hospitalized patient's ages 40 years and older, using ICD-9 claims data to assess both marijuana use and health outcomes in a cross-sectional setting. In this study, we examined the relationships between marijuana use and health outcomes among hospitalized patients, including hospitalized patients with and without a diagnosis of cancer using ICD-9 codes. As with any administrative claims database, there is a chance of misclassification and underclassification of drug use using secondary ICD-9-CM codes as it is often self-reported 59. Although diagnostic inaccuracy may also be a manifestation of the ICD-9-CM diagnosis system that categorize participants solely on the basis of dependency status, other studies have also accurately identified marijuana use ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes 18, 19. Fourth, the extent to which cannabis use represents medical or recreational use is unknown. CTS may also be referred to as “Metrc” (Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Regulatory Compliance), or more generally, “Seed-to-Sale” tracking. The article was intended to provide nurses and other health care providers with an overview of key implications related to the landmark legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Medical marijuana patient counseling points for health care professionals based on trends in the medical uses, efficacy, and adverse effects of cannabis-based pharmaceutical drugs.

Others is critical. I strongly encourage nurses and other health care providers to peruse the abundant literature addressing the effects of marijuana use on health. Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia allow the legal sale of marijuana for medical purposes. The authors believe that while a key policy issue is to keep marijuana out of the hands of children, its use for medicinal purposes should be resolved by scientific research and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review. However, in this cross-sectional study design, it is impossible to definitively rule out confounding or to conclude that marijuana use reduces the risk of adverse health outcomes. A great many high potential individuals find out that smoking pot kills their drive. This is exactly what you will find with Temecula medical marijuana doctors; they are trained medical specialists that have decided to provide California marijuana recommendations for patients who could stand to enjoy life more if they had a viable treatment option. Looking to find the single source of helpful information on Glaucoma Chicago? Nevertheless, these findings provide information suggesting that marijuana use is negatively associated with certain health outcomes that may be important for older, sicker population groups. First, there is very little direct evidence regarding the association between marijuana use and health outcomes among older, sicker adults in the US.