SF Doctor Says Marijuana Use Adds Risk to Women with Enlarged Hearts

With the popularity of medical marijuana increasing seemingly by the day, some doctors still caution patients of using it.

Dr. Nikolas Lemos has been the chief forensic toxicologist for the San Francisco medical examiner’s office. And with every death that occurs, the department runs tests looking for alcohol, medications and drugs, including marijuana.

“In any type of case we get to see cannabis, whether it’s homicide or suicide or natural deaths, we see cannabis,” Lemos said.

And Lemos has noticed that women over 40 who have enlarged hearts are at risk.

“Enlarged heart and cannabis use in women has been shown by our research to have statistically more greater chances of causing death,” Lemos said.

One psychiatrist feels differently though. Dr. Eugene Schoenfeld said “There’s been a lot of research looking into the possible harmful effects of marijuana. There’s been thousands of studies which have not found harmful effects of that kind.”

But the medical examiner’s office has begun listing “marijuana intoxication” as the cause of death on some death certificates.