The number of lethal overdoses from cannabis consumption is close to zero, whilst the number of deaths from drugs that are generally legal, such as tobacco and alcohol, is staggering. At BitCanna, we believe that blockchain technology will quicken the pace at which comparisons can be made between the dangers of various substances — providing us with tools to navigate through this drug-abundant world. But for the time being, we wrote this blog to shine a light on the lethal implications of cannabis in relation to other drugs.
According to this graph, which measures overdose death rates in England and Wales, every year 79,700 die as a direct result from smoking tobacco. In most other contexts, this amount would be considered an epidemic. Unfortunately, we’ve somehow overshadowed the severity of tobacco-related deaths while growing accustomed to these stark and worrying figures. The second deadliest drug on the graph is alcohol, resulting in 8,367 deaths annually. Next up we have prescription painkillers at 807 deaths, heroin at 765, cocaine at 167, and last comes cannabis — with one drug-related death on record.
What The Research Says
David Nutt, neuropsychopharmacologist and former government chief drugs adviser in the UK, published a study presenting the dangers associated with various drugs, including dangers to the individual, society, and many aspects within these two categories. As the graph shows, the top two colours relate to drug-specific mortality and drug-related mortality. In terms of drug-specific mortality, the number for cannabis is barely visible, whilst for heroin it’s quite significant. Although the drug-related mortality associated with cannabis is slightly higher than one may expect, it’s not in terms of the drug effects themselves, but occurrences surrounding them — like driving whilst high, for example. Some of the more deadlier substances than cannabis (in terms of drug-specific mortality) that are not on the list include peanuts and coffee.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the lethal dose of fentanyl is only 2mg,³ while the lethal dose of cannabis is not even included by EMCDDA since “fatalities directly attributable to cannabis are rare”.⁴ Some blogs and articles assert that the lethal dose of cannabis equates to hundreds of kilograms of marijuana consumed within a short time period. Even though these claims are debatable, the truth is, drug-specific deaths attributed to cannabis are extremely rare, if not non-existent.
Dosage Is A Vital Factor
There’s a saying that goes “The difference between poison and medicine is the dosage”. Injecting 10mg of morphine is probably much safer than chugging 10 liters of black coffee in one sitting. In terms of how we consume drugs in our society, the lethal dose doesn’t translate synonymously to the number of overdose deaths. For example, alcohol-specific overdose deaths are greater in comparison with crack, even though the lethal dose of crack is much smaller.
In Conclusion
The illegal status of cannabis is not justified by drug-specific or drug-related harms when viewed in comparison with alcohol and tobacco, which are both legal substances in most countries. One should, of course, be careful under the influence of cannabis. For safety reasons, one should not drive under the influence, operate heavy machinery, or do anything that requires high-level concentration. However, consuming cannabis is very safe in comparison with many other substances we deem safe, such as coffee and peanuts.
BitCanna will provide a Decentralized Payment Network, Supply Chain and Trust Network for the legal Cannabis Industry.
BitCanna will provide a Decentralized Payment Network, Supply Chain and Trust Network for the legal Cannabis Industry.
Why BitCanna? We’ve summed up 10 reasons: 👇
1 Booming business
The global cannabis market is expanding at an extremely fast pace.
2 Powered by the industry
BitCanna has already established partnerships with the top brands in the industry.
3 World-famous brands
The BitCanna Alliance is active in over 27 countries and globally connected within the industry.
4 Millions of visitors
The partners have over 10 million unique visitors per month.
5 15 Years of experience
Team with over 15 years of experience in the cannabis industry.
6 Custom blockchain Live at launch
The BitCanna main net will be fully live as a payment network with wallet 1.0 at launch.
7 Proof-of-Stake
A Proof-of-Stake blockchain will be used to process all BitCanna transactions.
8 Online integration
Direct integration with the biggest online shops at the launch of the project.
9 Physical stores across europe
Integrated with physical stores in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, and many more to come.
10 International media partners
Supported by well-known international media partners.
📖 BitCanna whitepaper v1.01 : http://bit.ly/2Lua44c
Whitelisting is live! If you’re fast enough, there’s still some free tokens to claim! 🔥
http://bit.ly/2LvB6rH
Maximum Sign-Ups: 15.000
Start Whitelisting: 01–07–2018
Runtime: Until November 1st, 2018 or 15.000 Sign-Ups
References:
1. Statista. These drugs are all deadlier than cannabis.
https://www.statista.com/chart/3190/these-drugs-are-all-deadlier-than-cannabis/
2. Prof. David J Nutt, Leslie A King PhD, Lawrence D Phillips PhD. Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis 2010.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61462-6/fulltext
3. Fentanyl drug profile. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/fentanyl
4. Cannabis drug profile. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/cannabis
