Drug OD fatalities up for 11th consecutive year; not one was due to marijuana

[n2doc]

Xeni Jardin at 3:26 pm

Federal data to be released this week through the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th year in a row. Most were accidents involving prescription painkillers: specifically, opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin which are commonly prescribed for pain management, and are widely abused. Those two drugs contributed to 3 out of 4 medication overdose deaths, according to the report.

Not one single death in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data set was due to overdosing on marijuana.

Why? Generally speaking, because of the way cannabis affects the human brain and nervous system, it is not medically possible to OD on marijuana—though you're welcome to try, and unconfined munchies could certainly cause some damage. Not that death by Doritos would be such an awful thing...

And yet in federal law, with the data once again proving that pot is non-lethal, cannabis remains classified as a schedule 1 drug. That classification means there are no federally-recognized medical applications for pot, while prescription drugs proven yet again to be potentially deadly when abused remain readily and legally available.

more

http://boingboing.net/2013/02/19/drug-od-fatalities-up-for-11th.html#more-214106

[think]

1. Statistics are irrelevant. Ban the devil weed!

And there's a pill we can prescribe if this stresses you out.....

[Puzzledtraveller]

3. I heard you can see the devils face in the smoke

[think]

4. ...

[Capt. Obvious]

2. But it's a gateway drug

therefore all OD deaths are traced back to Mary.

[Gorp]

5. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever died from THC poisoning.

Those who had THC in their system when they died also had another agent like opiates, bennies, alcohol, LSD, meth, etc. THC on its own is not deadly. You get stoned, you get the munchies, you eat for hours, and you pass out. It won't kill you and it certainly shouldn't be a Schedule I drug. It also doesn't cause beer muscles or beer goggles. Being mellow rarely gets you into a fight or result in contracting a STD.