A healthy woman in Georgia is believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest from smoking marijuana.

The 26-year-old was rushed to the local emergency department after her fiancé discovered her unresponsive on their bathroom floor, necessitating resuscitation by emergency medical personnel.

Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors found she had undergone cardiac arrest, meaning her heart suddenly stopped beating. 

She had no prior health conditions, and the only substance she tested positive for was tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive element in marijuana responsible for creating a euphoric or ‘high’ sensation.

She was also negative for heart conditions like an arrhythmia that would have made her prone to cardiac arrest. 

Doctors determined that the unidentified woman was experiencing ventricular fibrillation, a dangerous heart rhythm disorder where the lower heart chambers beat rapidly, stopping the heart from effectively circulating blood and oxygen throughout the body.

This led to a ‘cannabis-induced cardiac arrest,’ the team said. 

The case comes as a mountain of recent studies have suggested cannabis use raises the risk of heart attack, stroke and coronary artery syndrome. 

An unidentified woman in Georgia suffered a ‘cannabis-induced cardiac arrest,’ despite having no underlying heart conditions (stock image)

And cardiovascular disease, which includes cardiac arrest, is America’s biggest killer, taking nearly 1million lives every year. 

The findings also come amid a 66 percent increase in heart attacks among young people between 2019 and 2023.

Researchers are urgently seeking the reasons behind these unexplained heart attacks, with initial studies pointing to obesity, lack of physical activity, and Covid, as well as drug use like marijuana, as possible contributing factors.

The medical team from WellStar Spalding Health System in Georgia shared in a medical journal: ‘This case emphasizes a rare but crucial instance of cannabis-induced cardiac arrest in a young woman who was previously healthy.’

‘Unlike most documented cases that concentrate on older individuals or those with pre-existing heart abnormalities, our patient lacked any structural heart defects, genetic risks, or metabolic issues.’

It’s unclear exactly how much cannabis the woman consumed or how often she engaged in the habit, but doctors noted she was a ‘chronic’ user, which could mean several times a week.

About 18million Americans report using marijuana daily or nearly every day. Cannabis use is also on the rise, largely due to recent decriminalization across the US. From 1992 to 2022, daily and near-daily use has seen a 15-fold increase.

The woman’s doctors are unsure why exactly cannabis led to a cardiac arrest, but they noted THC can cause an increase in heart rate, which forced the heart’s muscles to work harder to pump blood and deliver oxygen to the rest of the body. 

A May 2025 study published in JAMA Cardiology also found that marijuana smokers had a 52 percent reduction in blood vessel function compared to those who never used the drug. 

Endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels and regulate blood flow, released less nitric oxide in people who regularly smoked marijuana or took edibles. Nitric oxide helps blood vessels dilate and deliver vital oxygen throughout the body.

This impaired function affects the blood vessels’ ability to dilate, increasing the risk of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. 

In the United States, marijuana is fully legal – for recreational and medicinal use – in 29 states. It is fully illegal in four states.

Laws in the remaining states are mixed, meaning the drug may be permitted for medicinal use, allowed only in the form of CBD oil, be decriminalized or be a combination of these.

Data shows that heart attack cases are on the rise in young Americans. The new study suggests marijuana could partly be to blame

The woman’s medical team noted that as legalization increases, doctors need to closely evaluate chronic cannabis users for potential heart issues.  

They wrote: ‘Recreational cannabis use is steadily increasing among both adults and youth due to expanding legalization and easy accessibility, underscoring the urgent need for greater public and clinical awareness of its potential health risks. 

‘This case highlights the serious cardiovascular consequences of THC.’ 

The woman’s heart rhythm returned to normal within a week, and she was discharged from the hospital to a nursing facility with a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator.

The device is a vest that contains a defibrillator, which detects abnormal heart rhythms and sends an electric shock to return them back to normal.