Why "Lethal Marijuana Overdose" Is an Oxymoron

As desperate as it may seem, some of the adversaries of marijuana legalization still falsely claim that people can have a lethal marijuana overdose. But, the term “lethal marijuana overdose” is an oxymoron, because there has never been a single fatal overdose on marijuana. The word “lethal” doesn’t even apply to marijuana, unless being used in a dangerous setting or where quick reaction time is needed, such as a war time scenario.  Despite real incidents of Americans overdosing from synthetic marijuana molecules such as JWH-018, including the likes of "law enforcement agencies, the military, and panicked parents," updated and more dangerous molecules continue to fill convenience store shelves. New York and Mississippi made up nearly half of all new synthetic marijuana poisonings in 2015 alone, begging the question as to why this seemingly more dangerous drug is still available, and even worse, legal, in the U.S.

Not Even One Reported "Lethal Marijuana Overdose"

Not even one reported lethal overdose of marijuana has been documented as of 2016, and it is highly unlikely to ever happen because it has an extremely low toxicity that researchers haven’t even been able to grasp just yet. Backed by data from American Scientist, the “effective dose” of alcohol or the amount that a healthy 154-pound adult can consume before they feel relaxed is about 33 grams, which can come from two 12 ounce beers, two 1.5 ounce shots, or two 5 ounce glasses of wine. Consuming 10 times this “effective dose” of alcohol in one sitting is potentially lethal, while consuming over 1,000 times the effective dose of marijuana has still not been proven to be lethal. A lethal marijuana overdose would be almost impossible, considering that a cannabis patient would have to consume roughly 1,500 hundred pounds of marijuana within a span of 15 minutes to even come close to dying.

Striking Differences In Lethality Between Marijuana and Alcohol

Although alcohol is one of the most widely used and popular drugs in the United States with around 75 percent of adults using it regularly, the reality is that it is exponentially more toxic than marijuana as well as several other drugs that people falsely believe to be highly toxic, such as Psilocybin mushrooms. Combine this with binge drinking culture, most prevalent among young people on college campuses, and the results equate to many avoidable deaths and injuries a year. Alcohol related deaths add up to around 88,000 per year, and it is the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. 55,000 adolescents received treatment at a facility for alcohol related problems in 2014, according to the (NIAAA). Alcohol consumption also contributed to 3.3 million deaths globally in 2012. These types of alarming statistics are not associated with marijuana usage at all. Although there are a small number of automobile deaths in which the culpable driver had marijuana in their system, in a majority of theses cases, the driver was also impaired by alcohol and other drugs as well.

Marijuana Not Proven To Be Toxic In the Slightest

Alcohol, prescription drugs, opioid pain relievers, benzodiazepines, cocaine, and heroin all result in tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year, with death rates continuing to climb for many of these drugs, according to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Meanwhile, marijuana continues its undefeated streak of zero deaths. Despite what some of its adversaries would like the public to believe, many of which stem from the root of Big Pharma and its lobbyists, there is no evidence at all to suggest that national marijuana legalization would even slightly increase the amount of drug related deaths or injuries associated with marijuana use, and possibly, that's why it's still illegal.