Will smoking pot harm your heart? Experts weigh in

(HealthDay)—Anyone worried that smoking a lot of pot could lead to a heart attack or stroke will just have to keep worrying for the time being.

There’s not enough scientific evidence to say one way or the other how marijuana affects heart health, a new review has concluded.

“Our review found insufficient evidence to draw meaningful conclusions that marijuana use is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes,” said lead study author Dr. Divya Ravi, an internist with the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education in Scranton, Pa.

For their review, Ravi and her colleagues pored through medical literature and found 24 studies that evaluated marijuana use and its effects on either heart health risk factors or actual health problems such as heart attack or stroke.

A few studies showed that pot use might benefit the heart, but these were contradicted by other studies that reported potential harmful effects, Ravi said.

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