Recreational marijuana users are nearly 25% more likely to need emergency care and hospitalization

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(CNN) --

Recreational marijuana use is associated with an increased risk of emergency room care and being hospitalized for any reason, a new study found.

"Cannabis use is not as benign or as safe as some might think," said study author Nicholas Vozoris, an assistant professor and clinical investigator in the division of respirology in the department of medicine at the University of Toronto.

"Our study demonstrates that the use of this substance is associated with serious negative outcomes, specifically, emergency room visits and hospitalizations," Vozoris said in an email.

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Recreational marijuana poses a significant risk of hospitalization

The study, published Monday in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research, analyzed data from national health records of more than 30,000 residents of Ontario, Canada, between the ages of 12 and 65 over a six-year period.

Compared with people who didn't use, recreational marijuana users were 22% more likely to visit an emergency department or be hospitalized, the study found.

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The result held even after adjusting the analysis for more than 30 confounders, including other illicit drug use, alcohol use, and smoking.

"Physical bodily injury was the leading cause of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among cannabis users, closely followed by respiratory reasons," Vozoris said.

Marijuana smokers had higher blood and urine levels of several smoke-related toxins, including naphthalene, acrylamide and acrylonitrile, than non-smokers, a 2021 study found. Naphthalene is associated with anemia, liver and neurological damage, while acrylamide and acrylonitrile have been associated with cancer and other health problems.

Another study last year found that teens were twice as likely to report "wheezing" in the chest after vaping marijuana than after smoking cigarettes or using e-cigarettes.

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The relationship between marijuana use and health

Several studies have shown an association between marijuana use and injuries, both physical and mental.

Heavy marijuana use by teens and young adults with mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, has been linked to an increased risk of self-harm, suicide attempts and death, according to a 2021 study.

Another study from that same year found that regular cannabis users, including adolescents, are increasingly coming to emergency rooms complaining of severe intestinal discomfort known as "cannabis hyperemesis syndrome," or CHS.

The condition causes nausea, severe abdominal pain and prolonged vomiting "that can last for hours," Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist and toxicologist at Children's Hospital Colorado, told CNN in a previous interview.

A review published earlier this year looked at studies on more than 43,000 people and found a negative impact of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, on the brain's higher levels of thinking.

For young people, this impact can "consequently lead to reduced educational attainment and, in adults, poor job performance and dangerous car driving. These consequences may be worse in habitual and heavy users," he told CNN. study co-author Dr. Alexandre Dumais, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal, in a previous interview.

At a time when "health care systems are already strained around the world in the wake of the Covid pandemic and in difficult economic times... cannabis use is increasing around the world," Vozoris said.

"The results of our study should set off 'alarm bells' in the minds of the public, health professionals and political leaders," he said in his email.

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