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Pot Use Tied to Stroke in Three Teenagers
By Amy Norton | Reuters Health | Apr 26, 2004 06:22 PM

NEW YORK - Large doses of marijuana might in rare instances lead to stroke in teenagers, according to a new report.

Although it is unusual for teens to suffer a stroke, and there have been few reports of stroke linked to marijuana use, the cases of three teenage boys suggest the association is real, researchers report.

The boys all had a similar type of stroke in a brain region called the cerebellum shortly after smoking marijuana. Their strokes could not be explained by blood clots that traveled from the heart, blood vessel inflammation or other potential causes.

There may be some unique features of bingeing or sporadic use of large amounts of marijuana that might put the adolescent brain at risk, Dr. Thomas Geller of St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri told Reuters Health.

"This is obviously very rare," he added.

Geller and his colleagues report on the cases in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Past research has shown that marijuana use can lead to excessively low blood pressure, slowed heart rate, dizziness and balance problems. According to Geller and his colleagues, there have been a few reports of marijuana-associated stroke, which have all been in males between the ages of 15 and 34.

In these latest cases, all of the boys showed similar symptoms shortly after smoking pot, including severe and worsening headache and problems seeing and walking. One boy had slurred speech and appeared drunk.

Two of the teens died less than 24 hours after being admitted to the hospital. Autopsies confirmed that the boys had strokes caused by disrupted blood flow to the cerebellum, as did biopsy from the third teen, who survived.

All of the boys admitted to having recently smoked marijuana, and appeared to use the drug occasionally rather than regularly. The teen who survived suffered his stroke symptoms after heavy marijuana use.

There is research evidence that inexperienced marijuana users have a short-term drop in blood flow to the brain after smoking the drug, the authors note in the report.

Geller said his team's hypothesis is that irregular but high-volume use of marijuana--or a contaminant they were unable to find--might prevent the cerebellum from getting enough blood to meet its needs.

"We think that adolescents--maybe only male ones--who binge on marijuana may put themselves at a risk that they are not aware of," Geller said.

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Bellatrix

This is such a load of bullsh*t. What else were these kids doing besides smoking marijuana?

Maybe he was. If it was the marijuana that caused this than it was some god-awful shwag. If it wasn't for prohibition, people wouldn't be smoking poorly grown ditchweed and kids wouldn't be smoking it either.

Did they have a history of circulation problems? Perhaps they lived next to a nuclear power plant, for all we know. Did the doctors ask them about sniffing gas or drinking alcohol? How come we haven't heard about any other recent activities that they were involved in? So much information is missing from this story that I can't help but find it extremely suspicious.

Hey, just my personal experience, but I think pot does more to prevent strokes than cause them!

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John Smith

I look at it this way, Marijuana causes the dialation of blood vessels, this is a proven fact. Now, consider that with all the "junk food" that is thrust upon the teenagers, and for that matter the rest of us, would it make sense that once the blood vessels are expanded, this would enable the already existing blood clots caused by fatty foods which is a very real problem in the North American diet, to become freed up to migrate through the system? I am no doctor but it just may be something to think about, or consider. I have been smoking marijuana for most of my life, approxamitly 25 years. I also smoke ciggarettes(trying to quite) for the last 29 years. The only thing I see differant is that I have been using aspirin almost every 3rd day for the last 20 years, that and marijuana has helped me deal with arthritis brought about by my various broken bones (Im very clumsey).
To put this on the shoulders of marijuana alone is unfair and quite ignorant, but then consider where this tripe flows from and there you go.
Interesting to see that the president of a famous fast food chain died of a heart attack? OH MY GOD WE MUST OUTLAW BURGERS! No, we must be a little more responsible with our eating habits, EVERYTHING in moderation, including marijuana. My advise? take ONE aspirin ONCE a week on a full stomach if you have a diet rich in fat, better yet, take vitamin C right before you eat a meal high in fat, this helps break down the fat and passes it through the system. DO NOT OVER DO IT! 250 mg will do the trick. As I said I AM NOT A DOCTOR, I found it helps ME, it may help you, if you are not sure GO SEE YOUR OWN DOCTOR! Ask his advise.

My two cents

strange_blaze

agreed Bellatrix, what a load of bullsh!t.

This article isn't very convincing IMO. Just another attempt to scare the masses

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Destination2012

We need to be open minded that this MIGHT be true. (The doctors are merely trying to pinpoint the common denominator of several strange cases of stroke).

However, if this report is like all previous reports of marijuana's "dangers" then yeah, it'll turn out to be complete B.S.

Although I doubt marijuana itself causes stroke, I can see how methods of smoking it may lead to such a medical problem.

If a teen, who is pre-disposed to a stroke, repeatedly and forcefully uses a bong, the continuous lack of oxygen to the brain could trigger a stroke or black out.

I blacked out myself while smoking, once, but that was due to the repeated use of a bong in rapid succession. If I had eaten the same amount, I would have still gotten high, but not lost any oxygen in my brain.

SMOKING MARIJUANA can be dangerous.

Marijuana ITSELF is relatively safe, however. There are many methods of ingesting it, not just smoking.


This is why drug education should include HOW TO USE drugs as well as the benefits of abstinence. Schools usually say: "Don't have sex, but if you do, here's how to use a condom". We need to do the same with drugs.

 

Hall1bd

Well since it happened to all of them i doubt all three friends were predisposed to stroke...but you never know for sure. There also could have been something else in the pot, or maybe something they smoked out of had something in it. If they made it out of something in a household that opens up a huge variety of harmful chemicals that could be on their smoking device. Like Bellatrix already said, there is way too much missing to go into this further. And the fact that people smoke tons of pot all the time and nothing happens except maybe a sore throat/lungs, and being really messed up, shows that something else was amiss here.

Hot Lava

so were these 3 boys friends and smoking together when this happened? If that is the case, that is way too big of a coincidence for MJ alone to be the cause. Those boys were probably doing something else along with it. But the autopsy would have found that.
It just sounds too fishy to me.

Jay Pritchard

Well lets look at this as the United States would, We know the United States lies about Marijuana. So it makes sense they this is just some half ass lie, some of its true probably the scientific evidence was, but that still doesn't clearly explain why those guys had a stroke. I bet ya they probably did way more then Marijuana, because im telling just based on my experience with marijuana use, and using it a lot, and watching other people use it alot (remember this is good pot, not nasty mexicon schwag, or other ****ty stuff, this is dank nug I would guess imported from Canada seeing how I live in Western New York), and I never had anything or know anyone that went to the Hospital from marijuana, in fact my friend almost died from alcohol use till I turned him over to the pot side and now he just smokes pot and makes fun of people who are drunk. Don't let this article turn you to the Dark Side with the DEA, this is just some bogus bull ****, except for the science part they add in there, the United States is very tricky they state facts with bull **** which confuses people. If your not an idiot you realize this.
Jay Pritchard from Medina NY see how much im not a ***** cause im not afraid of the US-DEA coming to get me. If only everyone wasn't a ***** marijuana would be legal now.

BigFatBOWLing

"One boy had slurred speech and appeared drunk. "

He appears to be drunk... what...? You mean alchhol is a bad thing? And here I thought that since the government tells me its legal it must be good for me...

Legal... Illegal... they are only words...

SacredNaCl

Three boys smoking pot together all get a stroke. Am I the only one here thinking POPPERS? Amyl/Bytyl Nitrate = sudden and massive dialation of blood vessels, but it wears off quickly. Add that with a massive smoking cough. You could probably break many blood vessels with that, even the sudden change in dialation might be enough to put the vessels into spasm.

I think I would also be testing the pot they smoked for other substances.