It is hard to argue against using any form of medication that offers legitimate and proven efficacy. Doctors continue to prescribe opioids, for example, because they play an important role in pain management. But the medical community also knows that opioids need to be tightly controlled. The same is true for cannabis.

In the fight to decriminalize cannabis across the nation, proponents have sought to paint a picture of a harmless plant that can be freely enjoyed without any negative ramifications. To the extent they have been successful, greater numbers of Americans are less concerned about cannabis than ever before. But saying that cannabis is completely safe is one thing. Proving it is another.

Coming down on the side of questioning cannabis safety is a brand-new study out of Canada. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital. To their surprise, researchers looking at something entirely different discovered a correlation between cannabis use and increased risk of heart attack.

An Observable Correlation

The researchers were examining data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pertaining to the years 2017 and 2018. They were not specifically looking for anything related to cannabis. But in their analysis, they discovered that, among the 17% of study subjects who self-reported using cannabis, 1.3% suffered a heart attack within one month of use. The rate of heart attack among non-using patients was just 0.8%.

In fairness, the difference is negligible enough to avoid making too many assumptions. A difference of 0.5 percentage points is not enough to unequivocally say that cannabis use leads to heart attack. But the correlation is there, nonetheless. It is observable enough to suggest that we look into it further.

At the very least, the research seems to confirm suspicions that cannabis consumption can affect the heart. How much effect it has is unclear. One would think that smoking cannabis would pose a greater danger compared to vaping, for the simple fact that combustion produces thousands of chemicals smokers inhale with every draw.

However, the Canadian study did not differentiate between delivery methods. This has led researchers to believe that any harmful effects on the heart might be consistent no matter how a patient consumes cannabis.

More Study Is Needed

If nothing else, the Canadian study is evidence that we need to look a lot more closely at the long-term health effects of using medical cannabis. And if it is determined that cannabis is not as safe as proponents claim, that is all the more reason to legalize it only as a medicine and then control it as tightly as opioids, antidepressants, and other prescription drugs.

Some states are already moving in that direction despite being somewhat hindered by the federal government. Utah is an excellent example. Lawmakers in the Beehive State only implemented a medical cannabis program because a voter proposition force them to do so. They are determined to make sure that the program remains strictly medical.

Using Cannabis in Utah

Provo’s Deseret Wellness medical cannabis pharmacy explains that using cannabis in Utah requires a valid medical cannabis card issued by the state. Furthermore, all cannabis products consumed in the state must be purchased from a state-licensed pharmacy. Utah strictly regulates everything from delivery methods to the amount of THC allowed in various products.

We have generally accepted that cannabis can be used for medical applications. However, science has not proven the drug’s safety over the long term. Until we know more about it, cannabis should remain as tightly controlled as any other prescription medicine.