Marijuana Emerges as a “Major Contributor to Premature Heart Disease”
Even adults who used marijuana just one to five days a month had higher odds of heart disease and stroke, a preliminary American Heart Association study finds.
Marijuana use is linked to higher odds of heart disease and stroke, even among adults who use it only a few days a month, according to a preliminary study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026 in Chicago.
Researchers analyzed 2020 to 2024 data on 442,906 U.S. adults from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a CDC telephone survey. Participants reported how many days they used marijuana in the past month. They also reported whether a doctor had ever diagnosed them with a heart attack, heart disease, heart-related chest pain or stroke.
Occasional marijuana use tied to heart disease and stroke
Stroke showed the strongest link. Adults who used marijuana one to five days in the past month had 40 percent higher odds of stroke than those who had not used it. Those who used it 16 to 30 days had 25 percent higher odds.
The same pattern held for cardiovascular disease overall. Light users had 23 percent higher odds and heavy users had 21 percent higher odds.
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Lead author Dr. Aabha Divya, an assistant professor at Tulane University School of Medicine, said the results defied expectations. “We expected that the chances of heart disease would gradually rise as people used cannabis more often, but that wasn’t the case,” she said. “Both low-use and heavy-use groups had higher odds of developing heart disease.”
In other words, occasional use did not look like a safe zone.
The researchers adjusted for tobacco smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, education, income and other demographics.
AHA expert calls marijuana a “major contributor” to premature heart disease
Dr. Robert Page chaired the writing group for the AHA’s 2020 scientific statement on cannabis. He had no role in the new study. “This is the second observational study to suggest that cannabis exposure (without tobacco smoking) may be a potential risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease,” he said.
“Overall, cannabis is beginning to emerge as a major contributor to premature heart disease in young and older adults, which can lead to serious cardiovascular events,” Page added. He urged clinicians to ask patients about marijuana the same way they ask about tobacco when they assess heart risk.
A growing body of research on marijuana and the heart
A 2024 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association drew on the same CDC survey. It found that daily marijuana users had 25 percent higher odds of a heart attack and 42 percent higher odds of stroke than nonusers.
Last month, a BMJ Open analysis of 50 million hospital records found that heart failure and heart attack admissions climbed faster after legal sales began in the West. A review of more than 100 million people tied marijuana use to a 37 percent higher risk of stroke. And Oregon’s own health department now rates the evidence linking marijuana to heart attack and stroke as moderate or strong.
What the study cannot show
The results are preliminary and have not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. Because the survey captures a single point in time, it shows associations, not cause and effect. It also relies on self-reported use and diagnoses, and it has no data on product potency.
Still, the AHA calls Scientific Sessions “a premier global exchange” of cardiovascular science. And the message from this year’s meeting is hard to miss: for the heart, a few days of marijuana a month may be enough.
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