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

[missyme]

My girlfriend had Breast Cancer and had to undergo 6 months of hell with Chemotherapy, she was so sick to her stomach she could not eat anything with all the drugs the Doctor prescribed for her. The only thing that helped her was "POT" she had to get if from her neighbor who was not selling it to her but giving it to her to get her through her illness.

People that smoke "POT" today for an array of reasons is not the same of the ol" Stereotypical Anti-Establishment drug induced hippies of the 60's listening to Jimi Hendrix.

[in the Arena]

FReeper Madness ?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Well, at least he died happy.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Which organ failed as a result of marijuana toxicicity?

His brain.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Dave's not here.

But, isn't John's van parked out front?

[Lazamataz]

They asphixiated 'em.

I want to be asphixiated.

Because I sure need my ass fixed.

[headsonpikes]

RE: outdated, ridiculous arguments

They're the only non-socialist arguments your side has.

You don't like the ridiculous irrationalism?

Fine, change your views.

[TKDietz]

"Which organ failed as a result of marijuana toxicity?"

"His brain."

I think that is a very good question. I'd like to know if an autopsy was even performed. Call me suspicious, but it's a little odd that marijuana has been around for thousands of years without any reports of anyone dying of overdose or "cannabis toxicity" and now all of the sudden it happens to a guy in England and we aren't hearing any details of the autopsy report and so on. Not that I don't think it's possible, but everything I have read on the subject seems to have suggested that it would take ridiculously high doses to kill someone, doses that would be nearly impossible to ingest, even if the person was eating it. Smoking six joints, even of the most powerful stuff out there wouldn't come close even if he lit them all up and smoked them all at the same time.

[Land of the Free 04]

it's a little odd that marijuana has been around for thousands of years without any reports of anyone dying of overdose or "cannabis toxicity" and now all of the sudden it happens to a guy in England and we aren't hearing any details of the autopsy report

And England's reclassification of marijuana (for lower penalties) is just around the corner. Mere coincidence, I'm sure.

[Stone Mountain]

Are they going to actually perform an autopsy, or just assert that the cause of death is weed because they found high levels of cannabinoids in his system?

[Wolfie]

The UK has been awash in yellow journalism since the announced re-classification.

[Wolfie]

HEDGE FRACAS DEATH 'FUELLED BY CANNABIS'

Cannabis fuelled a row over a privet hedge in which a man was shot dead by his neighbour, who was later found hanging in prison, an inquest was told yesterday.

Robert Dickenson, 52, was "drunk and drugged" when he gunned down George Wilson, 66, in the doorway of his neighbour's home in Lincoln last year. He hanged himself a week later after being charged with murder.

The coroner, Roger Atkinson, told the jury: "I would want to stress .. that cannabis is not a harmless drug and this case demonstrates how devastating its effects can be." Detective Inspector Peter Bray of Lincolnshire Police said outside court: "It does nobody any good to use cannabis and can lead to these sorts of things."

[Dead Corpse]

"It does nobody any good to use cannabis and can lead to these sorts of things."

BS. Sounds like it just cleared two shallow spots in the gene pool up.

[Land of the Free 04]

Robert Dickenson, 52, was "drunk and drugged" when he gunned down George Wilson, 66, [...] The coroner, Roger Atkinson, told the jury: "I would want to stress .. that cannabis is not a harmless drug and this case demonstrates how devastating its effects can be."

The coroner, Roger Atkinson, is a moron or a liar or both.

[clamper1797]

Post-mortem tests showed a high level of cannabinoids in his blood.

Also found in his blood were high doses of Doritos and Oreo cookies

[Wolfie]

Well, yeah. But its a perfect example of the level of "journalism" rampant in the UK right now.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

This is so sad. The best argument that you all have is "you're a socialist!" Or, "You're a communist!" OR, even, "Oh yeah!"

As I posted before, there are very good treatment plans for people so afraid of reality that they have to use illegal drugs to escape it. I'll post the link for you all in case you missed it.

http://christianonestop.com/2healthandnutritiondrugdirectory.htm

Good luck! I hope you all get better!

[Dead Corpse]

The best argument that you all have is "you're a socialist!" Or, "You're a communist!"

If your actions agree with the definitions, don't get pissed at us for pointing it out to you.

[Land of the Free 04]

This is so sad.

It's very sad that you're fleeing from my questions in posts #68 and #69.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

You raise some good points, certainly worthy of further study.

The story said that he smoked six joints a day for eleven years. How potent were these joints? I have been reading several posts on this thread that indicate that pot today is stronger than it used to be in the past. I wouldn't know, I have never smoked pot.

Another question, does the average pot user, use more or less than the fellow mentioned in this story?