Marijuana Use And Breakthrough Cases Of COVID-19 In MA: New Study

MASSACHUSETTS — Bay State residents suffering from a dependence on marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, opioids or tobacco are more likely to suffer a breakthrough case of coronavirus, according to a new study.

A breakthrough infection is one contracted by a vaccinated person two weeks after a second dose. While breakthrough cases aren't rare, unvaccinated people were 7.1 times more likely to get COVID-19 than vaccinated people.

The results of a recent study found that breakthrough infections were seen in 3.6 percent of vaccinated people without substance use disorder, while 7 percent of those with the disorder experienced breakthrough infections. These findings were published Oct. 5 in the journal World Psychiatry, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

"In our study, the overall risk of COVID-19 infection among vaccinated SUD patients was low, highlighting the effectiveness and the need for full vaccination in this population," researchers wrote in the study. "However, our findings document that this group remains a vulnerable one even after vaccination, confirming the importance for vaccinated patients with [substance abuse disorder] to continue to take protective preventive measures against the infection."

The study did not dig into the causal relationship between substance dependency and breakthrough cases (if any), only the correlation. In fact, when researchers quantified and discarded factors such as economic hardships and underlying health conditions, any heightened risk of coming down with COVID-19 vanished.

That said, the study showed marijuana users at the greatest risk for breakthrough cases among the SUD community, at 7.8 percent.So is it something in the weed itself? Or in the joint-bogarting habits of the marijuana-dependent community?

A NIDA spokesperson told Newsweek that "[I]ndividual behavior patterns and social conditions may be a major contributing factor above and beyond simply exhibiting problematic substance use patterns, such as lack of access to reliable information, sharing joints, etc."