Young/Middle-Aged Drug Users Risk Stroke
New evidence explains recent increases reported for strokes in young drug users.
By Mark S Gold
Published by Psychology Today on March 16, 2026
Key points
• A new study covering 100 million people links strokes with cocaine, methamphetamine, and cannabis use.
• For people under 55, stroke risk nearly triples with amphetamine/methamphetamine, with cocaine not far behind.
• Drug abuse is the most common predisposing condition for stroke in people under age 35.
Almost nobody gets a stroke if they’re 20, right? Stroke has been viewed for years as a disease of aging, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and atrial fibrillation. But when a much younger person uses illegal drugs, they may experience a stroke out of the blue.
