Study links cannabis legalization to heart-related admissions

and welcome back. A new study links recreational cannabis legalization in the U.S. to a rise in hospital admissions for several cardiovascular diseases. Researchers analyzed millions of hospital discharge records. They found admissions for atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and heart attacks increased in states where recreational cannabis laws took effect. Let's turn now to the Fox Medical Team's Dr. Mike Sirigliano. He joins us live now. Good morning to you, Dr. Mike. How How can cannabis affect our cardio health? Well, Alex, what we're going through is one big experiment. Now, let's go through some of the basics. Number one, this is not Cheech and Chong's marijuana. This is high potency stuff, and it's got a lot more THC in it. Okay, that's number one. Number two, people of all ages are using it, even older folks, and the concern is that If you have underlying heart disease, and even if you don't, the marijuana, the THC, can increase your heart rate, it can increase the risk of clot formation, and it can cause chest pain. And what we are seeing are some of the effects of this. Now, I'm not saying it's going to happen to everyone, and I don't want to be anybody's personal Oppenheimer, you know, the destroyer of your world. If you have underlying heart disease, you really got to think about this, and everything has to be in moderation. If you're a heavy user, what we think happens is that when you use marijuana, THC, it causes constriction of the arteries, vasospasm, and that's why we see an uptick in the number of cases of heart failure, heart attacks, and as you mentioned, arrhythmias like Atrial fibrillation. So you've got to be careful. If you're going to do it, you have to be careful. I appreciate you breaking this down for us and emphasizing the difference between recreational marijuana. And it sounds like this is obviously different from medical marijuana, Dr. Mike. Well, certainly. And let me state this. I don't like anything going in your lungs. I just don't like anything, whether it be vaping, cigarette smoking, anything going in the lungs is a bad idea. A lot of people use gummies. But again, if you have underlying heart disease, you want to be careful. There's some other things to talk about. We're going to find out over time whether this is a big problem or not. It's one big experiment, Alex, and we're going to see where we go with this. But the other thing we're seeing, traffic issues, people driving under the influence of marijuana, not alcohol, and some people prone to psychological problems if they're young and they use a lot of marijuana can lead to problems there. So a lot of questions that need to be answered. Dr. Mike, always keeping it real with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. Alex, you and I get high just on life. That's what it's all about. Love you. Ain't that the truth. Dr. Mike, thank you. We'll see you next time.