Overview

• Researchers at UCSF tested 55 healthy adults who regularly smoked marijuana or consumed THC edibles against nonusers in controlled vascular assessments.
• Endothelial function declined by 42 percent in marijuana smokers with losses of 56 percent among edible users compared to nonusers.
• Senior author Matthew Springer and lead researcher Leila Mohammadi emphasize that the findings show association rather than proven causation while highlighting smoke and THC each harm vascular health.
• The study challenges prior assumptions that edibles pose fewer cardiovascular risks than smoking by demonstrating even greater impairment among THC users.
• With daily or near-daily cannabis use exceeding 17 million Americans, experts at the American Heart Association call for larger, long-term studies to clarify cannabis’s heart health effects.