Smoking marijuana can alter a person’s DNA, accelerating aging and causing birth defects in their future children.
The drug has gained popularity over the past decade. It is now legal for recreational purposes in 24 US states and daily marijuana use has surpassed that of alcohol.
But new findings have warned of dangerous health implications, including faster aging, increased risk of cancer and fertility problems.
Researchers from the University of Western Australia examined more than 50 global studies investigating the effects of cannabis use on the body and said the surprising statistics should “reframe the debate over cannabis legalization.”
Co-author Dr Stuart Reece said: “This new research shows how genetic damage caused by cannabis use can be passed down from generation to generation.” “This should reframe the debate over cannabis legalization from a personal choice to one that potentially involves multiple subsequent generations.”
They say premature aging is one of the most common effects of marijuana, and a recent study found that long-term users in their 30s were shown to have a biological age that was 30 percent older.
The study involved 154 participants from a small city in the southeastern US, who provided blood samples that yielded two indices of epigenetic aging from ages 13 to 29 and 30 years.
Blood tests, which measured chemical tags in DNA, showed an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, COPD and lung cancer.
Study the authors say These age-related health problems are “extremely worrying,” and even more so because other research groups have shown that certain ailments can be passed on to future generations due to irreversible DNA damage.
Cannabis is now legal in 24 US states and daily marijuana use has surpassed alcohol use nationwide.
They point to strong evidence, drawn from extensive American and European studies, showing the link between cannabis and birth defects.
Along with cardiovascular, limb, and gastrointestinal abnormalities, bOther studies in humans and rodents. ‘show that cannabis exposure in adults is related to the incidence of autism and brain processing difficulties in prenatally exposed children.’
Additionally, childhood cancers have been linked to parental cannabis use.
A study by Duke Health found that prenatal cannabis use was associated with an increase in tumors in the central nervous system, while a rodent study found that paternal marijuana use before conception altered offspring brain development .
Researchers at the University of Western Australia also highlight a “known high rate of fetal loss,” with some studies suggesting marijuana use can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths.
According to research funded by the National Institutes of Health, women who use marijuana during pregnancy face a 2.3 times increased risk of stillbirth.
In terms of cancer risk among smokers and their offspring, the authors say “hHistorically, the link between cancer and cannabis has been controversial.
This is because “different results in published studies can be attributed to a variety of factors, including multiple exposures (including tobacco), differences in study design, and the rapid increase in cannabis potency.”
However, recent studies suggest that long-term marijuana use may increase the risk of cancer among adults. particularly lung, head and neck cancers.
“The literature on cannabis and testicular cancer is almost uniformly positive and has a relative risk of about 2.6 times,” the authors add.
Federal research has shown that cannabis use is increasing, especially among Americans under 30 years old.
They say that the effect of marijuana can be “quite rapid since the average age of exposure can be about 20 years and the average age of incidence of testicular cancer is only 31 years.”
From the evidence, it is unclear to what extent cannabis use can cause lasting harm.
Summarizing their report, published in Addiction Biology, the authors describe the “present tense” as a “decisive moment.”
They emphasize that “deeply revealing new studies” should serve as a “trigger” for change.
With legal marijuana more potent than ever and with little regulation, the authors say the health implications may be more catastrophic.
The findings come a few months after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed lowering the legal classification of marijuana.
The plan is to move from Schedule 1, which has the greatest potential for abuse with drugs like heroin and ecstasy, to Schedule 3, along with ketamine and some anabolic steroids.
Schedule 3 drugs remain controlled substances and subject to rules and regulations, and people who traffic them without a permit could still face federal criminal prosecution.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, although others have legalized it for medicinal purposes only.
However, when this rescheduling is implemented, it will not automatically legalize marijuana throughout the United States.
Recreational marijuana is currently legal in 24 states and 13 allow limited medicinal use.
As the substance becomes legal in more states, use and addiction have also become more prevalent.
An NIH-funded study, for example, found that marijuana use among young adults reached an all-time high of one in 12 in 2021.
Rates rose the most in states like California, which legalized recreational cannabis in 2018.