…and PS: Watch out for raw potatoes. They CAN be dangerous (see below).
“Nearly all drugs have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But [over 5,000 years] there is no record in the medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.
Estimates suggest 20M to 50M Americans routinely smoke marijuana without medical supervision. Yet again there are no credible medical reports to suggest consuming marijuana has caused a single death.
By contrast aspirin causes hundreds of deaths each year.
Drugs are routinely given what is called an “LD-50 rating” indicating at what dosage 50% of test animals receiving a drug will die. Researchers have attempted to determine marijuana’s LD-50 rating in [large] test animals, without success. [I.e.], researchers have been unable to give animals enough to induce death.
…It is estimated marijuana’s LD-50 is between 1:20,000-1:40,000. This means in order to induce death a smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much as contained in one [US gov’t supplied] marijuana cigarette [from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) farm in MS].
A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds [of US NIDA grown cannabis] within about 15 minutes to induce lethality.
In practical terms, then, it’s not lethal.
Another common way to determine drug safety is called the ‘therapeutic ratio’.. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutic dose and a dose which can induce adverse effects.
Aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are recommended. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding.
The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium may cause serious biologic damage if patients use ten times the recommended (therapeutic) dose.
There are drugs with much lower therapeutic ratios. Many drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and MS are highly toxic with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed.
By contrast, marijuana’s therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, can’t be quantified because it is so high.
In medical terms marijuana is safer than many foods we consume. E.g., eating ten raw potatoes can result in a toxic response.
Cannabis, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. By any rational measure marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
#MMJ #LD50 #Toxicity #UTpol #TRUCE
See full article – What is the lethal dose of marijuana?
