GettyActor and director Kevin Smith suffered a heart attack this year. However, the man behind cult classics such as Clerks and Dogma made a miraculous recovery and according to doctors, it was marijuana which saved his life.
As well as being one half of Jay and Silent Bob, Smith is a well-known lover of the herb. In fact, it’s pretty much synonymous in his early films.
But it all nearly came to end when Smith suffered a massive heart attack back in February during the middle of a stand-up performance.
Since then, the 47-year-old has made a full recovery and according to his doctors, his years of smoking weed played a vital role in him getting better.
During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert he said:
I honestly thought I was too high. I’d smoked a bunch of weed that day because I was doing the show and then I smoked a joint right before the show and then I got off stage and all of a sudden I had a heart attack.
They got me to the hospital and they wheel me into the emergency room and the whole time I’m chill. Like, the guy said, the paramedic, he goes, ‘You’re being real calm, that’s going to get you through this. And there’s a dude behind him goes, ‘That’s what’s going to save his life.’
I said, ‘Doc, honestly, I just smoked too much weed this morning. That’s what this is.
However, according to Smith, his doctor explained:
It was quite the opposite. That weed saved your life.’ And I was like, ‘Do tell! Like, what do you mean?’
He said, ‘You kept calm. They told you that you were having a massive heart attack, and you remained calm the whole time, so that joint saved your life.’
Smith told Colbert how the symptoms of his heart attack were the same warning signs when suffering from distress, but he was unaware of this fact.
He remembers suffering from sweating, heavy breathing and feelings of nausea, but he didn’t feel any shooting pain up and down his arm – which is what most people would look for.
GettyLast year, the US government admitted cannabis can kill cancer cells, meaning there’s an obvious progression in the fight to cure a disease once considered a death sentence.
Furthermore, just like military veterans who use cannabis to deal with PTSD, the same substance is said to help cancer patients who are trying to cope with depression and anxiety.
According to CLEAR’s study, it can ‘help alleviate anxiety, depression, insomnia and mood disorders in cancer patients’. However, the study does state these are ‘anecdotal reports’ and ‘some patients may find… opposite results’.
While cannabis is legal and/or decriminalised, on a medical and/or recreational level in countries such as Germany, Canada, Zambia and select States in the US, countries like the United Kingdom still refuse to legalise it medicinally.
Smith broke the news of his heart attack on Instagram back in February.
In his post he told his followers:
I faced my greatest fear tonight…and it wasn’t as bad as I’ve always imagined it’d be.
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