“There is a big difference between the long slow slide into death of alcoholism and the rapid sudden death of alcohol poisoning which would be a better comparison to the marijuana deaths.”
Actually, quite the opposite. There is not a single recorded fatality from acute marijuana toxicity, so marijuana deaths cannot be compared to alcohol poisoning at all. Every “marijuana death” is actually a “marijuana-related death” if we were to categorize it as alcohol deaths are categorized, because marijuana intoxication is only a contributing factor and not the direct proximate cause of death.
I suppose you could say the psychosis is secondary.
Sort of like alcohol related death of falling off a balcony.