[quote name='stonedgamer']Well since this topic won't die, here are some old but interesting statistics.
The rate is obviously higher by now
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm
Now I'm not saying it's right but even if weed did make you stupid like so many people claim, at least it doesn't cause such death.
So why doesn't everyone hate on tylenol?
Because it's legal[/quote]
True, but legality implies a wider userbase as well as government controls.
On top of that, the more people that use a specific chemical/drug to alter thier bodies chemistry, the more like it is for adverse reactions to be noticable and reported.
(Average 1990-1994) According to the US Centers for Disease Control, from the beginning of 1990 through 1994 "2,153,700 deaths (1,393,200 men and 760-400 women; total annual average: 430,700 deaths) were attributed to smoking (19.5% of all deaths)." The CDC notes that "Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."
According to the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in 1996 an estimated 110,640 people in the US died due to alcohol.
Source: "Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96," National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, from the web at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/databases/armort01.txt, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001, citing Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, Saadatmand, F., Stinson, FS, Grant, BF, and Dufour, MC, "Surveillance Report #52: Liver Mortality in the United States, 1970-96" (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, December 1999).
These problems are not really about the nature of said products, but more about the widespread use and abuse of said products. Since there are no actual numbers for marijuana use, these are nothing more than a red herring offered by a pro-pot site. In essence, these people are saying "but these are bad" as a way to push thier agenda.
(Average 1982-1998): According to Canadian researchers, approximately 32,000 hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000) in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to their prescribed medications.
Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998, Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.
Again, through widespread use and proper reporting, it becomes obvious that even seemingly benign drugs can have drastic and adverse effects on some portion of the population.
(2001): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2001, there were a total of 30,622 deaths from suicide in the US.
Source: Arias, Elizabeth, Ph.D.; Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D.; Hsiang-Ching Kung, Ph.D.; Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A.; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Final Data for 2001," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, Sept. 18, 2003), Table C, p. 8, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_03.pdf, last accessed Jan. 27, 2004.
This point would be completely torn apart by anyone who's ever written a brief or taken a formal debate class. This is yet another red herring... nothing can be extrapolated about the use and effects of a drug from the national suicide rate from 3 years ago.
(2001): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2001, there were a total of 20,308 deaths from homicide in the US.
Source: Arias, Elizabeth, Ph.D.; Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D.; Hsiang-Ching Kung, Ph.D.; Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A.; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Final Data for 2001," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, Sept. 18, 2003), Table C, p. 8, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_03.pdf, last accessed Jan. 27, 2004.
Yet again, another major red herring. Murders have absolutely nothing to do with drugs in any way, with the exception of the violence and deaths inherent to the drug trade.
(2001): "In 2001 a total of 21,683 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (tables 21 and 22). The category "drug-induced causes" includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother’s drug use. (For a list of drug-induced causes, see "Technical Notes.") In 2001 the age-adjusted death rate for drug-induced causes for males was 2 times the rate for females. The age-adjusted rate for the black population was 1.2 times the rate for the white population (table 21). The rate for the non-Hispanic white population was 1.5 times that of the Hispanic population, and the rate for the non-Hispanic black population was 1.8 times that of the Hispanic population (table 22)." Source: Arias, Elizabeth, Ph.D.; Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D.; Hsiang-Ching Kung, Ph.D.; Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A.; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Final Data for 2001," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, Sept. 18, 2003), p. 11, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_03.pdf, last accessed Jan. 27, 2004.
Nice of this website to completely negelect the technical notes.
Yet again, just because some drugs by thier natures have interactions, or people have allergies to them doesn't mean they are inherently unsafel, or that marijuana is safer.
(2000): "Illicit drug use is associated with suicide, homicide, motor-vehicle injury, HIV infection, pneumonia, violence, mental illness, and hepatitis. An estimated 3 million individuals in the United States have serious drug problems. Several studies have reported an undercount of the number of deaths attributed to drugs by vital statistics; however, improved medical treatments have reduced mortality from many diseases associated with illicit drug use. In keeping with the report by McGinnis and Foege, we included deaths caused indirectly by illicit drug use in this category. We used attributable fractions to compute the number of deaths due to illicit drug use. Overall, we estimate that illicit drug use resulted in approximately 17000 deaths in 2000, a reduction of 3000 deaths from the 1990 report."
Source: Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of the American Medical Association, March 10, 2004, Vol. 291, No. 10, p. 1242.
An estimated 3 million individuals in the United States have serious drug problems. Overall, we estimate that illicit drug use resulted in approximately 17000 deaths in 2000, a reduction of 3000 deaths from the 1990 report."
That's a whole lot of estimation going on there. For all we know, they could have easily jockied those numbers to make it look like America was winning the "War on Drugs". On top of that, the crime related numbers they get will likely be skewed before they even touch them, since I doubt crime scene reports have a checkbox that says "Drug Related".
(1996): "Each year, use of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) accounts for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the United States." (NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, and tiaprofenic acid.)
Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC; and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice," Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm, last accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement, 1992;92:21-4.
This is bad data. Asprin has known allergies, is used EXPONENTIALLY more than just about every illict drug, and is readily available over the counter... meaning that there will be a great many people that self-medicate rather that seeking a health care professional. That's just a recipe for disaster. Just because asprin and other NSAIDs have saftey issues doesn't make marijuana any more or less safe.
An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.
Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.
"Illicit drug use is associated with suicide, homicide, motor-vehicle injury, HIV infection, pneumonia, violence, mental illness, and hepatitis". Funny how this source completely neglects these causes of death realted to it's use.. despite the fact that the AMA sees them as viable.
ing... smoked out all the time in there. And another thing, by the time all of thoes bad smoking related thingies start hurting the majority of the people on this bord, (UNDER 30) thanks to all of thoes wonderfull docters will have cures and preventions readaly avalable to ANYONE.
