A drug overdose occurs when a person takes more than the medically recommended dose,
resulting in a toxic state which can sometimes lead to death.
It can be accidental or intentional where an individual wants to end their life.
How much of a drug causes an overdose can differ from person to person and their own
physiology.
So what about marijuana?
There’s been a lot of news about the medical benefits of this drug in recent months and
in many countries it has been legalized for medical purposes.
But is there a dangerous side to it?
That’s what we intend to find out, in this episode of The Infographics Show: Can you
overdose on weed?
Before we answer this question, let’s first look at what weed is.
The name weed is slang for Cannabis and there are a fair few slang names for this green
bushy plant.
In fact according to Time Magazine there are as many as 1,200 slang names for Cannabis,
the more common names include marijuana, pot, bud, green, grass, hash, ganga, 420, and of
course weed.
Why weed?
Because essentially cannabis is a plant and in the right conditions it can grow in abundance
like a weed.
So what exactly is marijuana and what are the effects it has?
It is both a medicine and a recreational substance and is the most popular illicit drug in the
world.
In the past few years many states have changed the laws on the use of this drug and a 2017
Gallup poll showed that 64% of Americans support legalization.
As it stands today, recreational marijuana is legal in nine states and medical marijuana
is legal in 30 states.
Oklahoma became the 30th state to legalize medical marijuana in June this year, when
residents voted 56-43% in support of the ballot initiative.
There are various parts to this plant, so let’s take a look.
Marijuana actually refers to the flower that buds on the plant.
This is dried and cured from the female cannabis plants and often smoked to bring on the effects
of the drug.
Then there’s the kief, which refers to the sticky, pollen glands, which contain the terpenes
that make cannabis have its unique smell, as well as cannabinoids such as Tetrahydrocannabinol
or THC, which interact with different receptors in the body to produce a wide range of effects
such as feeling high.
There’s also hashish, which is made by compressing the cannabinoid-rich resin of the marijuana
plant, to produce a brown solid substance.
Tinctures are liquid concentrates made through alcohol extraction.
This extracts many of the plant’s beneficial cannabinoids often used for medical purposes.
And finally hash oil, which can be created using a variety of solvents like butane, to
extract the resinous material from the marijuana plant’s flowers.
In terms of usage, a Yahoo News/Marist survey reported in 2017, that approximately 35 million
Americans use marijuana on a monthly basis.
At least 78 million surveyed reported having tried the substance at some point in their
lives and 55 million residents reported using marijuana within the past year.
So how safe is it to regularly take the drug and are there any risks of overdose?
The effects of smoking marijuana are usually felt almost immediately and can last from
1 to 3 hours, while effects from eating or drinking can last for several hours, but take
longer to take hold.
Common effects of marijuana intoxication include: Relaxation, sleepiness, euphoria, dry mouth,
impaired perception, red eyes and increased appetite which users commonly refer to as
‘the munchies’ where they often crave higher doses of sugary foods like candies
and chocolate.
Ok, that all sounds quite pleasant but what it you take too much of this mind altering
herb?
If large quantities of the drug are taken, or if the user is inexperienced and not used
to the effects, there can be some unpleasant side effects such as panic, paranoia, acute
psychosis, nausea and shortness of breath.
But negative effects of marijuana usually subside on their own and don’t typically
require medical care and the chances of overdose on marijuana are extremely small.
So can you actually overdose to the point of death?
From our research it seems to be widely considered impossible to actually die from a marijuana
overdose.
One reason is because the cannabinoid receptors in the brain aren’t located in the brain
stem and don’t control any essential functions, unlike most depressants and stimulants.
We could not find any officially recorded instances of people dying from a fatal dose
of marijuana alone.
There was a case that hit headlines in 2017 which included the seizure and death of an
11-month old baby after exposure to cannabis.
Many media outlets reported this as "the first marijuana overdose death."
But Thomas Nappe, an author of the report who is now the director of medical toxicology
at St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa, was quoted later as saying
"We are absolutely not saying that marijuana killed that child."
According to The Huffington Post, in 1988, a DEA judge argued in favor of rescheduling
marijuana because of its low harm profile.
In his ruling, he explained that a user would have to ingest somewhere between 20,000 to
40,000 times the amount of THC that is found in a single marijuana joint to approach a
lethal dose.
“A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about
fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response,” wrote Judge Francis Young.
So it certainly seems the jury is out on this one and though you can overdose on weed to
a point of serious and unpleasant side effects, it’s highly unlikely you can die from this
drug when taken on it’s own.
Are there other overdose cases you have heard of that we didn’t find?
Let us know by commenting below!
Also be sure to check out our other video, How Did He Become The King of Cocaine - Pablo
Escobar.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Infographics Show and remember to like, share
and subscribe.