How many fatal cannabis overdoses were there in 2016?

The question comes up every year, and the answer is always the same No cannabis smoker died of an overdose in 2016. The reason is simple: the lethal dose of cannabis is inhuman.

We've known it for a long time

A 1998 study in the journal National Institutes of Health, The authors of this study reviewed most of the publications relating to cannabis at the time, and never found any mention of overdose. The authors of this study reviewed most of the cannabis-related publications of the time and never found any mention of overdose.

Scientists then looked for the median lethal dose of cannabis. This experiment, carried out on laboratory rats, is used to determine the toxicity of a product. To be considered reliable, half the animals must die following injection of an equivalent dose of the substance.

To die, a smoker has to burn 42 kg of weed in 15 minutes

Research into the lethal dose of cannabis has recently been relaunched. Scientists have only been able to estimate the dosage required for a cannabis overdose.

On the other hand, a study published in the Drug Librairy states that the lethal dose of cannabis given intravenously is 20mg/kg in mice. Experiments on mice showed that males were more resistant to THC toxicity. The median lethal dose was 1400 mg/kg for males and 700 mg for females when cannabis was injected orally. They were unable to establish precisely the average toxicity of THC, since in larger animals such as monkeys or dogs, doses could be increased to 3000 mg/kg without mortality. Other components, available on the legal market, proved to be much less toxic. deadliest in rats, the lethal dose of caffeine and nicotine being 192mg/kg and 50mg/kg respectively.

It's estimated that smoking 42 kilograms of cannabis in fifteen minutes would be the lethal dose of our green plant. Of course, we're not asking you to try and verify this.

Edit for the fastidious: We see several figures circulating, between 680kg, 42kg or 18kg. To be complete, it all depends on the THC composition of the cannabis, since this is the cannabinoid inspected to determine a lethal dose of cannabis.

The 680kg figure is based on an LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of the population) of between 1:20,000 and 1:40,000, and on joints supplied by NIDA containing 0.9g of cannabis, titrated to an unknown THC dosage, but not exceeding 4%.

If we increase the amount of THC, we obtain a lower quantity of cannabis needed. But still unattainable. CQFD.

Théo Caillart