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in General Factchecking by (120 points)

A Fox-News opinion piece, published on July 1st, 2025 and written by Alex Berenson, claims that smoking marijuana is as harmful as consuming schedule-one intoxicants, such as cocaine. This claim does not seem to be supported as extensively as you might desire. The article outlines possible heart-related complications related to cannabis use in elderly people, however, never again compares cannabis side-effects to those of cocaine. The national library of medicine found that cannabis is neither conducive to or causation to cancer, and nearly promotes it as a treatment for individuals with chronic pain and mental illness. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425767/)

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by Newbie (310 points)

Partly true, but misleading.

There is evidence that cannabis use can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, especially for frequent users. Several large studies have found a connection between marijuana use and higher cardiovascular risks. However, the claim that cannabis raises those risks more than cocaine is not strongly supported by the available research. Some studies actually suggest cocaine is associated with a higher risk of stroke and other serious cardiovascular problems. Overall, the claim is based on some real health concerns, but the comparison to cocaine exaggerates what the research currently shows.

Exaggerated/ Misleading
by Innovator (64.1k points)
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Source? Strong fact-checks should include citing sources and providing URLs to those sources. Thanks!
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ago by Newbie (300 points)

The claim "Cannabis use raises risk of heart attack and stroke more than cocaine, other drugs" is somewhat true, but partially misleading. The claim itself needs a correction because the article itself never directly compares the 2 drugs side by side. The article argues a broader approach to the fact that cannabis does carry heart, brain, and mental health risks. The article itself is good and explains the risks of cannabis on humans. In the same Fox News article, the author, Berenson uses heavy evidence of the drug being linked to heart attacks, strokes, mental illness, and even suicide. He also cited a study that found cannabis users that were under the age of 50 were a staggering 6 times more likely to experience heart attacks than those who do not use it (BU School of Medicine 2025). This study being quoted pushed me to research farther into this and I found an article from the ACC that furthermore proves the risks of cannabis. The article uses the same research study and adds, "Their findings indicate that over an average follow-up of over three years, cannabis users had more than a sixfold increased risk of heart attack, fourfold increased risk of ischemic stroke, twofold increased risk of heart failure and threefold increased risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke" among the same study sample (under 50 users/non-users). Along with this the NIH uses a study from the National Institutes of Health, conducted on approximately 4350,000 American adults, to concur that cannabis through smoking was connected to a 25% increased likelihood of heart attack and 42% increased likelihood of stroke. 

The author uses real claims and backs up his idea making the claim true, despite not technically comparing it to cocaine. Everything used is researched and studied statistics, but the author could definitely go more in depth on the real comparison between cannabis and cocaine since he used it in his claim.

True

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