Cannabis causes 213 times fewer deaths than alcohol
Prohibition is becoming increasingly blunted and demonizing weed no longer works. Perceptions are changing, and so is the image of the weed smoker. Fewer and fewer people see the «smoker» as isolated, depraved and dangerous.
Some will say it's obvious and others will cry "scandal", but according to a new American study, smoking cannabis would be 114 times less dangerous than drinking alcohol. Explanation and case study from France.
In this study published by US National Library of Medicine, the author introduces a unit of measurement known as the «safety threshold». It turns out that cannabis, and especially its psychoactive substance THC, are rated much higher than alcohol. The reason for this is the long-term effects on the body, often downplayed with alcohol.
The study also highlights the fact that red-eyed Sunday drivers represent a lesser danger compared to hard-drinking drivers. However, there was still a slight increase in the number of traffic accidents on THC in American states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of cannabis. According to the author, no matter how much cannabis is consumed, the critical safety threshold is never reached, as there is no lethal dose. Alcohol, on the other hand, always exceeds the safety threshold because of the loss of control it causes.
French figures
Every year, alcohol kills 49,000 people in France, with over 15,000 cancer deaths and 12,000 strokes. Cannabis remains the least carcinogenic narcotic, far behind tobacco. According to the Centaur, the number of people killed at the wheel due to cannabis is 230 per year. Le point reported in 2012 that the risk of a road accident involving cannabis is multiplied by 1.8 as it moves to 8.5 under the influence of alcohol (figures which vary from study to study, but always arrive at the same conclusion). Having not yet found an overdose due to cannabis, a quick calculation is made:
Alcohol in France: 49,000 deaths/year
Cannabis: 230 deaths/year
Cannabis kills 213 times fewer people than alcohol in France every year.
Théo Caillart
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Alexis Chanebau
July 23, 2016 at 12 h 21 min
According to the Mildt extract, 40% of the 230 annual deaths attributed to cannabis use at the wheel in 2010 were due to mixing with alcohol. 40% of these 230 victims, therefore reduces the number of fatal accidents due to exclusive hemp users to 138, or even much less:
The real effect of hemp lasts around 2 hours, but traces of its use stagnate in the blood for around 2 months, distorting the statistics when analyses are carried out immediately after serious car accidents.
As for speed, a driver under the influence of hemp (without alcohol) will be fully aware of his or her condition, will be one of the slowest on the road, and will scrupulously respect safety distances. The relaxing effect, or even the mild «paranoia» inspired by the fear of the police sometimes felt, can be a factor of caution: «the mother of safety» (always without alcohol).
But the intoxication provided by THC can also distract through introspection, contemplation or amplification of sensations, and thus impair concentration (especially during the first five minutes after inhalation). Hemp is a «revealer», which can accentuate an underlying state of fatigue. That's why driving under the influence of cannabis is absolutely inadvisable (in the same way as driving under the influence of alcohol).
In 2002, Tomas Enge was stripped of his Formula 3000 champion's crown (cars with the same engines), because he tested positive at the Czech Grand Prix for 150 ng/ml of cannabis in his blood (according to him, this improved his ability to drive a car!).
Excerpts from the book «Le chanvre (cannabis), du rêve aux mille utilités», by Alexis Chanebau.
Sam Siko
January 16, 2017 at 20 h 44 min
I'd like to know how to die from cannabis. I've smoked it in the past, mixing it with everything and never anything. What's more, we demonize illegal drugs, but they kill less than alcohol, sugar or tobacco, and I'm not talking about pharmaceutical products. They take more lives and cost society more than any other drug. Some countries are questioning themselves, but not us, of course.