A growing body of medical reports suggests that smoking (and vaping) marijuana can be as hazardous for cardiovascular health as smoking tobacco—despite a growing public perception that it’s safe, even health-promoting. Exploring this disconnect, New York Times columnist Dr. Jane Brody looks at new studies contradicting that view, finding that, compared with tobacco, marijuana causes a fivefold greater impairment of the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity.
This is worsened by today’s increasingly potent pot, as well as edible forms of marijuana that have been implicated as a possible cause of heart attacks—many among users younger than 50— when high does of the active ingredient THC are consumed. Vaping is also dangerous, studies reveal, as it delivers the chemicals in marijuana even more effectively, resulting in increased doses to the heart.
Despite such health warnings about consuming cannabis, politicians continue to lead the charge for marijuana legalization. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the latest to say he’s pushing for legal pot as soon as possible in order to boost economic recovery from COVID. “We need revenue and we’re going to be searching the cupboards for revenue, and I think this is going to put marijuana over the top,” Cuomo, who has twice failed to deliver on legalization in the legislature, has said.
Perhaps Cuomo feels left out now that neighboring states New Jersey and Pennsylvania are likely to beat New York to legalization. And finally, the Wall Street Journal examines the way financial institutions must navigate spotty regulations and expensive compliance if they want to plow money into cannabis businesses. Disparities between federal and state laws concerning marijuana are inhibiting banks from jumping into what is becoming a lucrative business sector.