By Mia De Graaf Health Editor For Dailymail.com and Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 15:04 BST, 15 April 2019 | Updated: 15:04 BST, 15 April 2019
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Cannabis users need more than triple the anesthetic to undergo surgery, according to a new study.
The report, from a small study of 250 surgery patients in Colorado, found the normal dose of anesthesia was less effective in those who consumed marijuana on a weekly or daily basis.
Since 1980, anesthetists have warned people to abstain from marijuana weeks before surgery because the risks are unclear, and last year the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists issued another warning to that effect.
But researchers are now racing to understand exactly what those risks are as the drug becomes ubiquitous, with legal medical marijuana in more than half the US.
The report comes from a small study of 250 surgery patients in Colorado, where marijuana has been legal medically and recreationally since 2012
The research team in Colorado, where marijuana has been legal medically and recreationally since 2012, examined the medical records of 250 patients who had endoscopic procedures after 2012.
These procedures involve a camera on the end of a long, thin tube being inserted into the mouth (a gastroscopy) or the bottom (a colonoscopy). It can also be inserted via a small cut made in the skin during keyhole surgery.
Researchers found that patients who smoked or ingested cannabis on a daily or weekly basis required more
