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Marijuana is much safer than alcohol or tobacco, according to a new study
The Verge ^ | Feb. 23, 2015

Posted on 02/25/2015 11:28:41 AM PST by Wolfie

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

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.

The researchers determined the mortality risk by comparing a lethal dose of each substance with the amount typically used. Not only was marijuana the lowest of the drugs tested, but there was such a gap between its lethal and typical doses that they classified it as the only "low mortality risk" drug tested. All others were classified as "medium" or "high."

These findings contradict the efforts of law enforcement agencies around the country which, despite pockets of decriminalization (and in some cases, legalization), typically focus heavily on marijuana-related arrests. The authors suggest that, based on the results, these agencies would benefit from shifting priorities away from illicit drugs and placing them instead on keeping things like alcohol and tobacco in check. In fact, the researchers believe marijuana to be so low-risk that they suggest a broad, regulated legalization of it in the paper.

Attempts to compare the danger of particular drugs have been few and far between. It wasn't until the last decade that studies were done to classify the risk of drug abuse in a qualitative and quantitative manner, according to the authors. (They cite attempts at indexing the toxicity or ranking the harm of certain drugs as examples.) Before that, they claim, the risk assessment of drug abuse was instead based heavily on anecdotal evidence, which often meant that policy decisions were largely based on educated guesses.

The researchers clarified that the study does not suggest that moderate alcohol consumption poses a higher risk than regular heroin use. Environmental conditions, like dirty needles or unregulated supplies, contribute to the overall harm caused by using a drug like heroin. Instead, this study was specifically done to measure the deadliness of the substances themselves.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: anotheridioticstudy; anotherstudy; anotherstupidstudy; cannabis; dopersrights; drugwarriors; dudewaitwhat; junkscience; likewowman; lungcancer; marijuana; meth; neoprohibition; pot; smokingnazis; waronalcohol; whytheycallitdope; wod; wosd
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To: a fool in paradise

“It isn’t so easy to overdose on alcohol. Your body will reject it (vomit) or you will pass out before that limit is reached unless you are binging on a dare/initiation with so called ‘friends’.”

It’s pretty easy. Passing out does not save you from overdosing, because at that point, you have already consumed plenty of alcohol. It may actually be more danagerous, because now, if you vomit while passed out, you can suffocate.

As for vomiting, unless you vomit immediately after chugging some alcohol, it is going to do little to prevent an overdose. Alcohol does not need to be digested by your body, it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. So by the time you vomit, all the alcohol may already be in your system.


41 posted on 02/25/2015 12:09:16 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: blueunicorn6

“Smoking marijuana reduces the sex drive.”

Hmmm you’re telling me my wife is a pothead!


42 posted on 02/25/2015 12:09:24 PM PST by WinMod70
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To: ansel12

“If only Jesus had known that, he could have supplied doobies and hashish at the wedding.”

I’m pretty sure he did know: Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.


43 posted on 02/25/2015 12:09:28 PM PST by arbitrary.squid
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To: Wolfie

We are probably all better off avoiding, stimulants, mood-altering drugs, depressants and hallucinants of all description including alcohol, marijuana, nicotine and even caffeine. Some small, minor benefits might be found in those compounds but it is likely true that completely avoiding them altogether would be the best approach for all of us.

That said, I don’t grant anyone the standing to decide for me what I can put in my own body. I can’t understand anyone who would.


44 posted on 02/25/2015 12:09:41 PM PST by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: Wolfie
The researchers clarified that the study does not suggest that moderate alcohol consumption poses a higher risk than regular heroin use. Environmental conditions, like dirty needles or unregulated supplies, contribute to the overall harm caused by using a drug like heroin.

Let me summarize the science:

1. Legalizing drugs makes them safer
2. QED

45 posted on 02/25/2015 12:10:26 PM PST by palmer (Free is when you don't have to pay for nothing. Or do nothing. We want Obamanet.)
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To: a fool in paradise

The article states that the ratings in the article are based on the ratio between a typical dose of the drug in question and a fatal dose.

So no, this particular study does not take in to account cumulative effects. And the article states as much.


46 posted on 02/25/2015 12:12:58 PM PST by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: WayneS

one brownie could send a person to a hospital with toxic shock


47 posted on 02/25/2015 12:13:09 PM PST by GeronL
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To: WayneS

I read the reference to the study. It was horse manure from the PHD’s. Piled higher and deeper (and I have 2 degrees myself).


48 posted on 02/25/2015 12:15:11 PM PST by Darren McCarty (Mike Pence in 2016)
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To: Wolfie

49 posted on 02/25/2015 12:16:01 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: WayneS

Where does Tylenol fall on that scale?

Sodium?

There are plenty of lethal substances in the average cupboard.


50 posted on 02/25/2015 12:16:02 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: bluejean
What they mean is that it is 1/114 as deadly.

The way they say it is complete nonsense. But that is apparently how scientists, the media and ad-men talk these days, because this is far from the first time i have seen such nomenclature.

51 posted on 02/25/2015 12:16:06 PM PST by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: arbitrary.squid

LOL, the stoners still try to pass that off as God talking about drugs?

Jesus didn’t use pot, nor supply it to people.


52 posted on 02/25/2015 12:16:15 PM PST by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: GeronL

That’s because one brownie serves 12 people, or so I’m told...


53 posted on 02/25/2015 12:17:43 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: a fool in paradise
It isn’t so easy to overdose on alcohol. Your body will reject it (vomit) or you will pass out before that limit is reached

When you talk about vomiting and/or losing consciousness because of alcohol, you're describing an overdose. Overdosing does not always result in a fatality.

54 posted on 02/25/2015 12:18:52 PM PST by gdani
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To: WinMod70

“So would the pot smoking make the drinking less deadly or will the drinking make the pot smoking more deadly..geez this is complicated.”

Well, there is some drug interaction with alcohol and marijuana, but the effect is mainly psychological and wouldn’t contribute to deadly physical effects. Being psychological, the effect is going to manifest differently from person to person. Some people might drink more while they are high on pot, some might drink less. So it could be either safer or more dangerous, depending on the person.


55 posted on 02/25/2015 12:19:47 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: palmer

Heroin users are more likely to OD on a purer shot than something that has been adulterated/cut. So much for ‘unregulated supplies’ being the risk factor.


56 posted on 02/25/2015 12:19:48 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Darren McCarty

Whatever you say, man.


57 posted on 02/25/2015 12:19:49 PM PST by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: Boogieman
just that the typical user is more likely to overdose on alcohol rather than heroin.

There are 20 million alcohol abusers and 1/2 million heroin addicts in this country or a ratio of 40:1. The ratio for total users is higher of course since casual drinking will lead to addiction much more rarely than heroin use. There are 2 heroin deaths per 100k total population annually and 28 per 100k for alcohol. Heroin is thus proportionally more deadly.

58 posted on 02/25/2015 12:21:20 PM PST by palmer (Free is when you don't have to pay for nothing. Or do nothing. We want Obamanet.)
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To: a fool in paradise

I don’t know. I did not perform the study.

All I did was read the specific criteria by which they drew their conclusions.


59 posted on 02/25/2015 12:21:23 PM PST by WayneS (Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlin look like George Patton.)
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To: GeronL

No, not with “toxic shock”. It could very well send them to the hospital in psychological shock, but physically, they would not be suffering toxic effects as they would from consuming poison. Most likely the doctors at the hospital will just give them a sedative and monitor them to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.


60 posted on 02/25/2015 12:24:22 PM PST by Boogieman
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