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 How Many People Fatally Overdosed On Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on December 29, 2015 at 07:08:00 PT
By Kim Bellware, The Huffington Post
Source: Huffington Post
USA -- With marijuana now legal in some form throughout 23 states, the number of Americans who fatally overdosed on the drug last year was significant: The rate of absolutely zero deaths from a marijuana overdose remained steady from last year, according to figures released this month by the Centers for Disease Control. But while Americans aren't dying as a result of marijuana overdoses, the same can't be said for a range of other substances, both legal and illicit.
A total of 17,465 people died from overdosing on illicit drugs like heroin and cocaine last year, while 25,760 people died from overdosing on prescription drugs, including painkillers and tranquilizers like Valium, according to CDC figures. Opioid overdose levels rose so sharply in 2014 -- spiking 14 percent from the previous year -- the CDC described the levels as "epidemic.""More persons died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2014 than during any previous year on record," the CDC reported earlier this month.Alcohol, an even more accessible substance, is killing Americans at a rate not seen in roughly 35 years, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data. The more than 30,700 Americans who died from alcohol-induced causes last year doesn't include alcohol-related deaths like drunk driving or accidents; if it did, the death toll would be more than two and a half times higher.According to a widely cited 2006 report in American Scientist, "alcohol is more lethal than many other commonly abused substances." The report further puts the lethality of various substances in perspective: Drinking a mere 10 times the normal amount of alcohol within 5 or 10 minutes can prove fatal, whereas smoking or eating marijuana might require something like 1,000 times the usual dose to cause death. Though marijuana has yet to lead to a fatal overdose in the U.S., it does have the potential to be abused and lead to dangerous behaviors like drugged driving -- but taking too much will likely lead to, if anything, a really bad trip. Despite the changing tide in American attitudes toward marijuana for both therapeutic and recreational uses, legalization is still vigorously opposed by groups like the pharmaceutical lobby (who stand to lose big if patients turn to medical marijuana for treatment) and police unions (who stand to lose federal funding for the war on drugs). Even among 2016 presidential contenders, Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is the only candidate from either party to support outright legalization of marijuana by removing it from the federal list of Schedule 1 drugs, which includes substances like heroin and LSD. Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Kim Bellware, The Huffington PostPublished: December 28, 2015Copyright: 2015 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/XCcWmzdRCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 31, 2015 at 20:15:37 PT
Happy New Year 2016
Wishing everyone a very wonderful 2016 and that we will see great things happen for marijuana reform!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by runruff on December 30, 2015 at 05:50:27 PT
Flat earth society lives and are republican!
I predict more people will fall off the edge of the earth than will...you know?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by The GCW on December 29, 2015 at 18:45:21 PT
Ok, Ok, I'm sticking My neck out there...
I predict in 2016, there will be ZERO overdose deaths caused by cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on December 29, 2015 at 15:36:43 PT
go Huffpo
I like this - the rate has remained steady - at zero!  You'll never see that in the corporate media.The heroin OD's are an absolute tragedy and the next major frontier of drug policy reform IMO. People are OD'ing on bathtub-gin Fentanyl produced in Mexican labs. Heroin should be legally available in a regulated, safe form to addicts until they can make it through withdrawal therapy, which should also be universally offered to anyone who asks for it. This is how it's done in European countries.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by The GCW on December 29, 2015 at 07:22:30 PT
A BIG FAT Zero
-In over 5,000 years of documented use, even.That's safety on a Biblical scale.
[ Post Comment ]


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