For those in the Baby Boomer generation or older, annual physicals probably include questions about alcohol intake, tobacco use, diet, and exercise.
Doctors usually explain that as people get older, their risk for heart attacks increases.
In March 2000, researchers from the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, showed how marijuana use increases risk for heart attacks. In the first hour after smoking marijuana, that risk increases to nearly five times the normal risk level. After an hour or so, the risk level drops to twice the normal risk. Several hours later, a marijuana user's risk for having a heart attack resumes its normal level. The truth is that although energy levels decrease after smoking marijuana, blood pressure and heart rate actually increase.