Cannabis use appears to increase risk of type 2 diabetes
A large retrospective study suggests that cannabis use could quadruple the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The findings were presented on Sept. 15, 2025 at the Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).
“As cannabis becomes more widely available and socially accepted, and legalized in various jurisdictions, it is essential to understand its potential health risks,” said lead author Ibrahim Kamel, MD, from the Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts, USA. “These new sights from reliable real-world evidence highlight the importance of integrating diabetes risk awareness into substance use disorder treatment and counselling, as well as the need for healthcare professional to routinely talk to patients about cannabis use so that they can understand their overall diabetes risk and potential need for metabolic monitoring.”
Globally, cannabis was used in 2021 by an estimated 219 million adults (4.3% of the global adult population). Long-term metabolic effects are unknown.
The authors said, “Some studies have suggested potential anti-inflammatory or weight- modulating properties, while others raise concerns regarding glucose metabolism and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cannabis use and the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM) in a large, real-world population using electronic health record data.”
Kamel and his colleagues analyzed electronic health records from 54 healthcare organizations (TriNetX Research Network). They identified 96,795 outpatients (aged between 18 and 50 years, 52.5% female) with cannabis-related diagnoses between 2010 and 2018.
These subjects were matched with healthy subjects with no record of substance use or major chronic conditions. The matching was based on age, sex and underlying illnesses at the start of the study.
Subjects in both groups were tracked through the database for 5 years.
After adjusting the data for HDL and LDL cholesterol, uncontrolled high blood pressure, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, cocaine use, alcohol use and several other lifestyle risk factors, the investigators reported that new cases of type 2 diabetes were significantly higher in the cannabis using group (2.2%) compared to the non-cannabis using group (0.6%). In other words, they found that cannabis users had nearly four times the risk of developing diabetes in five years, when compared to non-users.
The authors concluded, “Cannabis use was associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes mellitus over a 5-year period. These findings suggest the need for metabolic monitoring and further research into the long-term endocrine effects of cannabis use.”
