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Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

reuters.com

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Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#51

Post by John_Cena »

obsurveyor wrote: post #39
John_Cena wrote: post #16

So they write about the limitations of their study about how marijuana use is subject to the real use frequency, but they simply throw all other considerations out the window. I take issue with trials like these. They barely do any reasonable trial research and try to spin: "The persons who habitually smoke marijuana have been shown to have higher blood pressure levels when compared to the general population" -into-…

> "The persons who habitually smoke marijuana have been shown to have higher blood pressure levels when compared to the general population" It's not even this, it reads as if it was a simple "Have you ever smoked marijuana?" and that's what the conclusion was drawn from. "Yankey said were limitations in the way marijuana use was assessed -- including that researchers could not be sure whether people had used the drug…

True. It is such an absurd jump of logic. Either the writer of the piece is trying to make bank (views) off of the polarizing subject matter (legal marijuana use) or someone who stands to lose bank ($$$) upset about the possibility someone can grow a remedy to their symptoms for a fraction of the price they charge over the counter.

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#52

Post by code_duck »

delbel wrote: post #38

Hate to say it, but it could be true. I am in an area of heavy heavy marijuana use (DABs, oils, etc 250mg> THC daily) and it is not just me, other people have noticed negative health of these users. They look sick. Another diesease is that they can no longer eat and they lose weight. Apparanetly according to the doctors the stomach is unable to make the right acid to digest food. We also noticed mania, strange behavi…

Huh? I've lived in Oregon and Colorado and work in an industry with the higher amount of cannabis use, and there's no trend of anything like what you're saying in any of the hundreds of people that I know. I know many people who feel like cannabis has benefited their lives a great deal.

Saying that cannabis use makes people unable to eat is funny, since one of the uses it's been known for and approved for for a long time, with heavy use, is helping cancer and AIDS patients eat due to appetite stimulating properties.

I think you may mean a condition called hyperemesis that people think is related to heavy cannabis use, but apparently is that it's related to ingestion of a pesticide. The groups who spread anti-cannabis propaganda for decades are still quite active and are glad to seize on things Like that, and say hey, this nontoxic products that is far safer than almost any prescription drug turns out to actually be really bad for you! Right. Making concentrates can concentrate not only active ingredients but also harmful contaminants. So, that's a good reason for better regulation - especially testing of finished products for contaminants. In most areas, one still can't easily take a product to a lab or store and get it tested for contaminants due to legalities.

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#53

Post by dgreensp »

CJefferson wrote: post #6
nxsynonym wrote: post #4

>> "If marijuana use is implicated in cardiovascular diseases and deaths, then it rests on the health community and policy makers to protect the public." Like how the policy makers protect the public from Alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter meds? Also a 1200 person study isn't really enough to draw any major conclusions from. Of course ingesting anything substance of any kind frequently over a period of time is bo…

Policy makers do put quite a lot of work into protecting us from alcohol, tobacco and over the counter meds. Also, 1200 people is a fairly huge study, plenty to get some quality statistics from. I'm not sure why you have been so offended by this research. It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying.

Just because consuming something regularly for 12 years raises your blood pressure doesn't mean it's a danger to the public that needs to be illegal. You might as well criminalize junk food. In a context of overblown fear and stigma around marijuana, the article should have at least put some perspective on the health risks, rather than having the message of, "Some people say marijuana has no health risks, but according to a study, there are. Be worried."

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#54

Post by dgreensp »

CJefferson wrote: post #6
nxsynonym wrote: post #4

>> "If marijuana use is implicated in cardiovascular diseases and deaths, then it rests on the health community and policy makers to protect the public." Like how the policy makers protect the public from Alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter meds? Also a 1200 person study isn't really enough to draw any major conclusions from. Of course ingesting anything substance of any kind frequently over a period of time is bo…

Policy makers do put quite a lot of work into protecting us from alcohol, tobacco and over the counter meds. Also, 1200 people is a fairly huge study, plenty to get some quality statistics from. I'm not sure why you have been so offended by this research. It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying.

Just because consuming something regularly for 12 years raises your blood pressure doesn't mean it's a danger to the public that needs to be illegal. You might as well criminalize junk food. In a context of overblown fear and stigma around marijuana, the article should have at least put some perspective on the health risks, rather than having the message of, "Some people say marijuana has no health risks, but according to a study, there are. Be worried."

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#55

Post by dgreensp »

dgreensp wrote: post #53
CJefferson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Policy makers do put quite a lot of work into protecting us from alcohol, tobacco and over the counter meds. Also, 1200 people is a fairly huge study, plenty to get some quality statistics from. I'm not sure why you have been so offended by this research. It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying.

Just because consuming something regularly for 12 years raises your blood pressure doesn't mean it's a danger to the public that needs to be illegal. You might as well criminalize junk food. In a context of overblown fear and stigma around marijuana, the article should have at least put some perspective on the health risks, rather than having the message of, "Some people say marijuana has no health risks, but accordi…

Actually, stoners are probably consuming a lot of processed food. Hmmm....

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#56

Post by moxious »

millzlane wrote: post #43
CJefferson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Policy makers do put quite a lot of work into protecting us from alcohol, tobacco and over the counter meds. Also, 1200 people is a fairly huge study, plenty to get some quality statistics from. I'm not sure why you have been so offended by this research. It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying.

>It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying. That's how propaganda works. I know it's anecdotal, but I've been a 3 or more times a day (everyday) smoker for over 11.5 years and I'm an no where near the risk of my overweight family members. Blood pressure has been fine and I'm an no risk of hypertension. Demand more proof if you're convinced by this. Something smells fishy. I would like to know how Snoop, Wi…

Hold on now, picking individual celebrity examples has some serious survivorship bias on its own. We don't hear from the ones who did experience early mortality.

Cannabis is a hard topic for Americans to talk about, because it's been so often unfairly demonized in the past, there's a pro-cannabis camp that sometimes won't admit any downside to it, fearing "Reefer Madness" style FUD which has been very common for decades.

But is it really all that surprising that smoking could be bad for your health, irrespective of what it is? My take would be that people shouldn't be persecuted for this, but that it's straightforwardly obvious that any smoking (and doubly so an unregulated plant that would reasonably be expected to vary tremendously in quality depending on supplier) -- would be harmful.

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#58

Post by vilmosi »

nxsynonym wrote: post #4

>> "If marijuana use is implicated in cardiovascular diseases and deaths, then it rests on the health community and policy makers to protect the public." Like how the policy makers protect the public from Alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter meds? Also a 1200 person study isn't really enough to draw any major conclusions from. Of course ingesting anything substance of any kind frequently over a period of time is bo…

> Like how the policy makers protect the public from Alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter meds?

... Yes? Those are all heavily regulated and/or massively taxed.

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#59

Post by CJefferson »

dekhn wrote: post #41
CJefferson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Policy makers do put quite a lot of work into protecting us from alcohol, tobacco and over the counter meds. Also, 1200 people is a fairly huge study, plenty to get some quality statistics from. I'm not sure why you have been so offended by this research. It looks quite convincing to me, and fairly worrying.

The N of the study isn't the issue here. It's the large collection of other methodological details, such as self-reported survey data, and a lack of dose-response, that invalidate it for policy purposes. When you say it "looks quite convincing", are you qualified to judge it on its merits?

I had a look, I'm not an expert in the area by any means, but at a reasonable glance it looks like a good study to me. Of course, it could be a giant fiddle (almost any experiment can be), but I try hard not to automatically assume studies which say what I like are good, and ones that say what I don't like are bad.

I'm sure there will be more research in this area, now that there is not the threat of jail if people report on their usage.

Re: Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: study

#60

Post by darkerside »

My statistics is weak, so I apologize if this is a silly question. This study is about mortality, so the key outcome would be whether the subjects died or not. How do they know how long any dead person used marijuana (since they couldn't ask them now obviously)?
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