Study: Marijuana Users Have Doubled Stroke Risk

Study out of New Zealand zeroes in on pot-stroke link.

A new study out of New Zealand is a real harsher: cannabis users double their risk of stroke, according to Dr. P. Alan Barber of Auckland.

People aged 18 to 55 who had a stroke "were 2.3 times as likely to test positive for marijuana in their urine than those who didn't have a stroke," according to Everyday Health.

The study does not prove that smoking pot "will cause a stroke," the news source reported. But Barber points out that "a lifestyle that includes cannabis use is closely associated" with a stroke.

Unknown in the study is whether tobacco played a role in stroke risk. In fact, the study did not look at tobacco use -- a very unhealthy habit -- at all. This is a "major problem with the study," according to the news source.

A total of 16 percent of stroke patients tested by Barber for drug use tested positive for cannabis; 8 percent of patients tested who had not had a stroke were cannabis-positive, according to the study.
 

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