Study Reveals Unexpected Presence of Heavy Metals in Blood and Urine of Marijuana Users

In Chile, marijuana use It is only authorized in the event of illnesses such as epilepsy or rheumatoid pain. However, we are the third country in the world that consumes the most marijuana, despite the prohibition of cultivation for recreational purposes.

According to the latest study by National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (Track), 38.2% of Chileans say they have used marijuana at some point in their life . Despite its popularity in the country and in different latitudes of the world, the study of the effects it produces on the organism in the short, medium and long term is not yet well approached.

Marijuana is the third most widely used drug in the world, behind tobacco and alcohol. The rapid proliferation of cannabis products clearly demonstrates the need for the public to better understand where these compounds come from and what their true benefits and potential risks may be.

Now a new study Posted in Environmental Health Perspectives reveals that marijuana users have high levels of heavy metals in their blood and urine, being harmful to a large portion of the population that consumes this drug.

The research, conducted by a team from Columbia University’s Pailman School of Public Health, reports that Marijuana could be a significant source of exposure to lead and cadmium, heavy metals capable of producing adverse health effects.

The cannabis plant is a hyper-accumulator of metals found in soil, fertilizers, water and pesticides. It is common to find in cannabis plants metals such as cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and total mercury (Hg). However, in countries or states where marijuana is legal, the pollution levels of these metals are regulated, but in Chile, marijuana is not legal.

High concentrations of metals have been detected in the past in unfiltered marijuana smoke and vapor. The National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) between 2009 and 2016 reported the presence of cadmium in urine and blood samples from long-term marijuana users.

Exposure to these metals is associated with an increased risk of cancer and cardiopulmonary diseases, which shows that it is urgent to assess the presence of metals other than cadmium in humans.

“Because the cannabis plant is a known metal scavenger, we hypothesized that people who use marijuana will have higher levels of metal biomarkers than those who don’t,” said Katelyn McGraw, postdoctoral researcher in the Columbia Department of Public Health for the Environment. Health Sciences and first author. “Thus, our results indicate that marijuana is a source of cadmium and lead exposure.”

Led by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the researchers combined NHANES data between 2005 and 2018 to analyze more geographically diverse samples. Of the 70,190 NHANES participants identified during the study period, 10,921 provided data on the metals present in their blood and urine samples.

McGraw and his colleagues ranked the 7,254 participants over the age of 18 based on survey by consumption: no marijuana/no tobacco; proprietary marijuana; exclusive tobacco; dual use of marijuana and tobacco. Five metals were measured in blood and 16 in urine.

The researchers used four NHANES variables to define exclusive marijuana and tobacco use: current smoking, serum cotinine levels, self-reported marijuana use, and recent marijuana use.

The study concluded that, Of the 358 people who reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, 27% had blood lead levels. higher than those who reported not using marijuana or tobacco.

At the same time, marijuana users also showed levels 22% higher blood cadmium levels . Urine samples showed similar results.

This is one of the first studies to report metal biomarker levels in marijuana users and likely the largest study to date, notes a release .

Exposure of the body to lead can have serious adverse health effects because lead is a toxic heavy metal. When lead enters the body, it can affect various systems and organs, such as damage to the nervous system, kidneys, bones, gastrointestinal problems, cardiovascular diseases, anemia, hypertension blood pressure and reproductive problems.

Additionally, exposure to lead is particularly harmful to young children, as their bodies develop and are more sensitive to the toxic effects of lead, and even low levels can delay brain development in children and cause learning and behavior problems.

Important data, since the study reveals that participants who had “exclusive marijuana” were younger, compared to those who did not use marijuana or tobacco.

“For cadmium and lead, these metals are likely to remain in the body for years, long after exposure has ceased,” Tiffany Sanchez said NBCNews, study author and assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

“Going forward, research on cannabis use and its contaminants, especially metals, should be conducted to address public health concerns related to the growing number of cannabis users,” Sanchez concluded.