How many fatal cannabis overdoses were there in 2019?

Published

7 years ago

2 January 2020 - Updated April 26, 2022

Aurélien BERNARD

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As in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015… The reason is very simple: it is impossible to reach a lethal dose by smoking cannabis.

Is it really possible to overdose on cannabis?

As explained earlier, some studies have nevertheless examined the lethality of cannabis. Although it exists in theory—and in practice when administered intravenously—it would require smoking phenomenal amounts of cannabis all at once. The most comprehensive study on the subject compared different dosages administered intravenously and orally in animals.

In oral administration, tests have been conducted at doses up to 3,000 mg/kg of THC in dogs and monkeys, without reaching a lethal dose. The equivalent for a human would be to eat 2 kilograms of weed containing 10% THC or 200g of an extract containing 100% THC, which seems more «achievable» but apparently isn’t fatal either.

When administered intravenously, doses of 92 mg/kg of THC did not cause any deaths among the monkeys; however, all of them died at doses of 128 mg/kg or higher. This dose of 92 mg/kg would be comparable to consuming 12.8 grams of pure THC all at once, or 128 grams of weed with a 20% concentration in one go, assuming a 50% loss of THC due to combustion.

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Cannabis, on the other hand, makes it possible to combat opioid overdoses.