Just last month, I wrote about a study that showed how switching your method of cannabis intake may not be saving you from future heart problems like you think it is. In fact, it might actually be making it worse. Now, a whole new study from a completely different team of researchers suggests something similar: cannabis in any form might be wrecking your heart.Just 20 years ago, the idea of marijuana being legalized in some form or another in nearly half the states was a laughable pipe dream. That dream is now our reality, and the reality of legalization is starting to hit as hard as the bongs we’re ripping daily. According to research published in the journal Heart, cannabis use is linked to a doubled risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 29 percent higher chance of acute coronary syndrome, and a 20 percent greater risk of stroke.The researchers crunched data from 24 studies spanning 2016 to 2023, making it one of the most comprehensive looks at how sparking up might mess with your heart. They admit some faults in the data, like imprecise measurements of how much cannabis was consumed, which doesn’t change the overall picture: marijuana’s health risks are real. And people are not taking them seriously enough. It’s especially concerning considering how dramatically Americans have shifted their vices toward marijuana.Yet Again, A Study Finds That Marijuana Might Be Wrecking Your HeartA 2022 survey from New Frontier Data found that 69 percent of people aged 18 to 24 now prefer marijuana to booze. A different report, this one from Carnegie Mellon, revealed that daily weed users now outnumber daily drinkers for the first time.That’s a shift that’s not likely to change anytime soon. After decades of demanding that marijuana not be scapegoated and demonized, it’s now flipped from illicit to essential. But now that it’s so permeated our society, and weed dispensaries have become fixtures in strip malls across the nation, we have to deal with its scientific realities.In an editorial published alongside the study, public health experts Dr. Lynn Silver and Stanton Glantz said it’s time we stop treating weed like a harmless hobby. They argue that we should be treating marijuana the same way we do tobacco, heavily discouraging its use and protecting people from secondhand smoke. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before the DEA reclassifies marijuana as a less dangerous drug, which simultaneously feels overdue and maybe not the best idea considering recent research. But we have to keep in mind that we’re only just beginning to understand the long-term consequences of marijuana use. The solution may not be criminalization as much as its regulation and public information campaigns that let people know what they’re getting themselves into before they pack a bowl.The post Marijuana Use Might Be Wrecking Your Heart appeared first on VICE.