Cannabis use can cause chromosomal damage, increasing cancer risk and harming offspring

Cannabis use causes cellular damage that increases the risk of highly cancerous tumours, according to a new paper published in the scientific journal Addiction Biology.  The paper describes cannabis as a “genotoxic” substance because it damages a cell's genetic information, which can lead to DNA mutations, accelerated aging, and cancer.  To make matters worse, this genotoxicity may be transmitted via damaged egg and sperm to the cannabis user’s offspring, making the risk of cannabis use trans-generational.

In a recent publication in Addiction Biology researchers from The University of Western Australia have made a link between established knowledge that cannabis use damages cellular energy production by inhibiting mitochondria and new cancer research published in Science^1,2 showing that mitochondrial dysfunction drives chromosomal damage, which shows up as increased rates of cancer, accelerated aging, and birth defects.

The Science studies were not conducted in the context of cannabis use; however, they provide mechanistic insights into some observations about cannabis use that were not previously well understood, such as that cannabis causes both mitochondrial and genetic damage. Taken together, the article in Addiction Biology put older historical research about cannabis into context and suggests that cannabis-related genotoxic damage may be all around us — even if we largely don't see it.

Co-author Dr. Stuart Reece comments: “The link we’ve described between cannabis use and genotoxicity has far-reaching consequences. This new research shows how genetic damage from cannabis use can be passed down the generations.  This should reframe the discussion surrounding cannabis legalization from a personal choice to one that potentially involves multiple subsequent generations.”

¹ Melody Di Bona et al., Micronuclear collapse from oxidative damage. Science 385, eadj8691 (2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adj8691

²Sara Martin et al., A p62-dependent rheostat dictates micronuclei catastrophe and chromosome rearrangements. Science 385, eadj7446 (2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adj7446

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For editors:

This Open Access paper is available on the Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/adb.70003) or you may request a copy from Jean O’Reilly, jean@addictionjournal.org.

To speak with lead author Dr. Stuart Reece, please contact him at The University of Western Australia by telephone (617 3844 4000) or e-mail (stuart.reece@uwa.edu.au).

Full citation for article: Reece AS and Hulse GK.  Key Insights into Cannabis-Cancer Pathobiology and Genotoxicity. Addiction Biology. 2024. DOI: 10.1111/adb.70003.

Primary funding: None.

Declaration of interests: None to declare.