Drugs, even those considered soft, are bad for the heart. «But above all they trigger drug-induced heart diseases which can manifest themselves acutely – generally temporally associated with and proportional to the last dose taken – or develop slowly over time. So even those who try it once or do it occasionally and don’t have any acute symptoms after taking it, but if it continues they can develop heart damage over time.” Hence the alarm of the cardiologists of the Foundation for Your Heart of the Anmco (National Association of hospital cardiologists) in underlining how it is necessary “to stop taking substances before the damage manifests itself or becomes irreversible” and of the importance of undergoing check-up visits.
“There cocaine – explains Domenico Gabrielli, president of the Foundation for your heart and director of Cardiology at the San Camillo hospital in Rome – it can favor the onset of any type of cardiac pathology and increases the risk of myocardial infarction by up to 23% in the first hours after the hiring. Non-medical use of cannabis has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The fact that there is cannabis used for medical purposes does not mean that smoking marijuana is not harmful to the heart and health. Also the Fentanyl it is a drug widely used in medicine, yet in the USA the non-medical use of synthetic opioids with pain-relieving effects such as Fentanyl and derivatives is a real social health problem. These substances, perhaps also purchased illegally, have in fact increased mortality due to cardiorespiratory arrest (around 75,000 deaths from synthetic opioids have been estimated in 2022 in the United States) and now constitute one of the main causes of death in young people in the USA – adults.”
«The objective of the Foundation for Your Heart and of the Anmco cardiologists – recalls Gabrielli – is to carry out prevention in step with the times in consideration of the increasingly frequent use and abuse of psychoactive substances, since not only the substances taken have changed but also the profile of those who hire them. The prevention of cardiovascular problems caused by psychoactive substances deserves all our attention and justifies every effort as these diseases are not at all rare, data show that up to a quarter of heart attacks in young people are linked to drug use. And in general, drug-induced cardiac damage is decidedly more frequent than we can demonstrate.”
According to cardiologists, «drug substances are at the center of various problems of civil society: a well-known concept but there is still little knowledge, both in the health and social fields, on the ability that these substances have to cause cardiovascular problems and damage in general biological with serious repercussions on the health of those who take them and important repercussions on healthcare spending. The lack of information and above all the disinformation, linked to the channels from which the information is drawn, determine – cardiologists warn – false beliefs such as that of considering cannabis harmless as “therapeutic” and therefore favor the low perception of the danger of “substances”, alcohol including, for the heart and for human health especially among young people.”
«Cardiac organ damage that can remain asymptomatic for a long time, giving the false impression of being healthy, the fact that most of the time organ damage develops slowly over time without giving particular symptoms during intake, the underestimation of diagnoses of heart disease caused or favored by the use of psychoactive substances and the fact that there is little sensitivity, and a lot of reticence to talk, as we should, about these issues contributes to the erroneous belief that narcotic substances don’t really hurt the heart and our organism all that much – underlines Gabrielli – All the main drugs known, including cannabis, have a cardiotoxic effect and can determine or favor the onset of various types of cardiovascular pathologies, including serious or fatal ones. In fact, narcotic substances damage the coronary arteries, causing acute or chronic cardiac ischemia and directly damage the heart muscle, causing inflammation (myocarditis), dilation (dilated cardiomyopathy) or thickening (hypertrophy) of the heart. These conditions, which if not diagnosed and treated promptly, can lead to heart failure. They also favor the onset of various types of arrhythmias, sometimes lethal, and alterations of blood pressure, coagulation and heart valves.”
