Marijuana is much safer than alcohol or tobacco, according to a new study

[workinclasszero]

Marijuana is much safer than alcohol or tobacco, according to a new study
By Sean O'Kane
on February 23, 2015 05:35 pm

Marijuana is roughly 114 times less deadly than alcohol, according to recent findings published in the journal Scientific Reports. Of the seven drugs included in the study, alcohol was the deadliest at an individual level, followed by heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, methamphetamines, and marijuana. Previous studies consistently ranked marijuana as the safest recreational drug, but it was not known that the discrepancy was this large.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/23/8093203/marijuana-is-much-safer-than-alcohol-or-tobacco-according-to-a-new

Big Pharma, the private prison industry and law enforcement all want to keep the safest drug out there illegal because they rake in billions and billions of dollars from it.

[tridim]

1. Again, my only problem with this study is that Cannabis is NOT deadly...

So how can it be 114 times less deadly than alcohol?

0 x 114 = 0, not 114.

Are they saying that one cannabis user dies for every 114 that die from alcohol? I hope that's not the claim, because that is a lie.

[freebrew]

2. Exactly...

not one recorded, verified death has ever been attributed to pot use.
Lots of deaths from trying to keep it illegal, though.

[Enrique]

4. it's not exactly zero

it's very low, but not zero.

And the numbers are not incidences of death (there are none for marijuana). The numbers refer to the size of a lethal dose.

[Man from Pickens]

5. it IS zero

Not one death ever has been attributable exclusively to cannabis - deaths from other causes while high are coincidental not cause-effect. You can't get to a "lethal dose" (you'd fall asleep long before), unless perhaps you specifically rig an experiment to make that happen.

[Enrique]

9. i included that fact in my post

I think this study is consistent with what you are saying, except instead of saying you "can't" get a lethal dose, since they are researchers, they quantify what a lethal dose would be, and conclude that is is extremely high compared to alcohol and tobacco.

[Man from Pickens]

10. how do you quantify that which doesn't exist?

Their "lethal dose" is purely hypothetical, and asserting that it exists even for research purposes contradicts the evidence. There is no number that you can put next to "lethal dose of cannabis" that will stand up to scrutiny.

[Enrique]

12. there is a place for hypotheticals in research

you sometimes do estimate the risk of things which have not happened yet.

Sometimes as in this study, the risk is so low that you conclude that there is no practical risk.

[tridim]

7. It is physcially impossible to ingest enough Cannabis to cause death.

Therefore the LD50 for Cannabis doesn't exist. AKA it's bullshit.

The actual death rate from Cannabis is statistically zero over the entire span of human history. It is NOT deadly, ever.

It is factually inaccurate to imply that cannabis is "deadly" relative to alcohol (or any other deadly substance for that matter), as the article does.

[TheSarcastinator]

11. the LD50 for cannabis is entirely theoretical

it has never actually been reached, although many of us have valiant efforts throughout the years.

If cannabis could actually kill you at all via overdose it would have happened by now here in Colorado and the media would have been all over it ("Death by Dabs!!!!&quot . Each day that goes by in Denver with a reduced rates of auto crash deaths and suicides of young men (both directly on the decline since legalization) is another day the proves the lies of the Losers of the War on Some Drugs.

[WDIM]

3. The most dangerous thing about MJ..

Being arrested for it...

[workinclasszero]

14. Very true

And if you are black, the chances of you getting busted for pot are way way higher than white people. Theres a study somewhere.

Race is another reason TPTB want to keep pot illegal. It keeps their prisons full of of minorities.

[draytontiffanie]

6. munchies

Well, its hard to really do much crime when all you wanna do is eat and take a nap.

[Stryst]

8. Hell, you can't even shoplift

If you can never remember why you were in a store in the first place.

[wordpix]

15. music

you also want to listen to music or play/sing yourself.

[spanone]

13. k&r...