Cannabis is blamed as cause of man's death

Telegraph Group Limited ^ | 20/01/2004) | Richard Savill

[Dubya]

A man of 36 is believed to have become the first person in Britain to die directly from cannabis poisoning.

Lee Maisey smoked six cannabis cigarettes a day for 11 years, an inquest heard. His death, which was registered as having been caused by cannabis toxicity, led to new warnings about the drug, which is due to be reclassified this month as a less dangerous one.

"This type of death is extremely rare," Prof John Henry, a toxicologist at Imperial College, London, said after the inquest at Haverfordwest, west Wales.

"I have not seen anything like this before. It corrects the argument that cannabis cannot kill anybody."

The inquest heard that Mr Maisey had complained of a headache on Aug 22 last year. Next morning he was found dead at the house he shared with a friend, Jeffrey Saunders, in Summerhill, Pembrokeshire.

Michael Howells, the Pembrokeshire coroner, said Mr Maisey was free from disease and had not drunk alcohol for at least 48 hours. Post-mortem tests showed a high level of cannabinoids in his blood.

He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure because Mr Maisey had died while taking part in an illegal activity. The death led to a warning about the changing strength of Dr Philip Guy, a lecturer in addictions at the University of Hull, said: "Cannabis is not the nice hippy drug it used to be. It has been experimented with to produce stronger varieties."

Dr Guy said that death was more likely if users ate the drug rather than smoked it. "I would not be surprised if in this case the deceased had ingested a fatal amount of cannabis."

Last autumn police issued a warning that big consignments of strong cannabis were being smuggled in from Africa. On Jan 29, cannabis will be reclassified from a class B to a class C drug.

The shadow home secretary, David Davis, said last night: "This highlights what we have been saying about the effects of cannabis all along. When will people wake up to the fact that cannabis can be a harmful drug?

"By reclassifying the drug David Blunkett has shown he has lost the war on drugs. In my eyes, it's nothing more than an admission of failure."

Tristan Millington-Drake, the chief executive of the Chemical Dependency Centre

[Protagoras]

And here we have the first known case in Britain of someone dying from smoking marijuana!

The first ALLEGED case.

It's nonsense in all likelihood, the article is long on bs and short on facts. Better to wait and see on this kind of crappy reporting.

[missyme]

HAHAHAHAHAAH.You said you have never smoked POT? are you just one of those sterotypical types that see "POT" as some whacked out hallucinogenic, pass out on the stereo
types of drug? People should not comment on "POT" unless they have tried it at least one time.

[Dead Corpse]

Have fun calling Freepers socialists and communists!

Yer' no "Freeper". Just another scared little hypocrit. Piss off. Your betters are talking.

[Dead Corpse]

The first ALLEGED case.

Thousands of years of usage and it finally killed someone. More people dead from breathing AIR.

[Protagoras]

Thousands of years of usage and it finally killed someone.

I'd bet plenty they can't prove it.

[Dead Corpse]

I agree. You would have thought the pen behind this article would have thrown in a tasty little tidbit like "caused a pulmonary embolism", or "cerebral hemorrhaging", or some such to scare the folks with.

The fact that no mechanism, other than heavy usage (Willie Nelson anyone?), was mentioned sets off all kinds of alarm bells and pegs the BS meter.

[Land of the Free 04]

Why buy wimpy dope for the same price as kickass dope?

Why would it be the same price? Do you pay as much for a quart of beer as for a quart of liquor?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

From the quality and content of your posts, I would say that you have tried pot. More than once................

[Land of the Free 04]

I'd bet plenty they can't prove it.

I'd bet even more they don't bother to try. The coroner said what the WODdites wanted to hear---now that corpse is going in the ground (or the furnace) muy pronto.

[Protagoras]

From the quality and content of your posts, I would say that you have tried pot. More than once................

I was guessing that about you.

[Sir Gawain]

Michael Howells, the Pembrokeshire coroner, said Mr Maisey was free from disease and had not drunk alcohol for at least 48 hours. Post-mortem tests showed a high level of cannabinoids in his blood.

He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure because Mr Maisey had died while taking part in an illegal activity.

Uh, I'd figure at least a few freepers would have the common sense to know that this was a legal ruling rather than a scientific one.

In other words, an activist judge (hey I thought conservatives were against those?) declared cannabis toxic, so now it is toxic.

Get a clue.

[AppyPappy]

No but I don't see beer and liquor as interchangable. Dope is dope. Plus if you are going to smoke it. It would seem reasonable that you would smoke as little as possible.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Oh, keep your sophomoric opinions to yourself.

[missyme]

Since I despise hyprocisy, I have tried it all accept Heroin,PCP,and ACID.

Never got hooked on anything, accept I could of let snorting cocaine do me in but stopped before it went into the crack era. I am sure my former use of recreational drug activity and hormone change as a woman in her early forty's caused me to have the worst case of insomnia, and yes "POT" helped me get through that, as per my physicians suggestion.

[Protagoras]

The same thing could have been said of your freshman opinions. You need a mirror.

[dread78645]

Alcohol is different than marijuana.If legalized, farmers will try to get more TCH content per acre, thereby raising the income. Why buy wimpy dope for the same price as kickass dope?

I disagree. My local bar serves a beer for $2.00 and a basic mixed drink for 2.50. The price is nearly equal to my mind but you'll normally find me drinking a beer.

There will always be the fools that go after "kickass" liquor: Absolut 100, Jagermeister, etc. Though Dickel & Jack Daniels are made at about the same costs of production, the higher (or the belief of) higher proof liquor will be priced above the "standard" brands. Mainstream drinkers will go with a Dickel and water, while the young bucks will pay the premium for the cachet brands.

[Protagoras]

I'm glad you didn't have it ruin your life, I have seen plenty of lives ruined by it.

I have never used any illegal substance, but I am in favor of individual liberty and personal responsibilty, so re-legalization is favored.

[dread78645]

MY Doctor had a previous Panic Disorder condition and smoked "Pot"to alleviate his symptoms..

Howard Dean ?

[missyme]

I apologize I meant that for another freeper...Oh well now you know my skeletons :-)

[missyme]

LOL...No Dr. Laura....actually My gynecologist.
Some women need a little something, something...:)