Deaths from Marijuana v. 17 FDA-Approved Drugs

[Ghost in the Machine]

Much of the medical marijuana discussion has focused on the safety of marijuana compared to the safety of FDA-approved drugs. On June 24, 2005 ProCon.org sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to find the number of deaths caused by marijuana compared to the number of deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs. Twelve of these FDA-approved drugs were chosen because they are commonly prescribed in place of medical marijuana, while the remaining five FDA-approved drugs were randomly selected because they are widely used and recognized by the general public.

We chose Jan. 1, 1997 as our starting date as it is the beginning of the first year following the Nov. 1996 approval of the first state medical marijuana laws (such as California's Proposition 215). The FDA reports we read from Sep. 13, 2005 to Oct. 14, 2005 included drug deaths "to present", which was the date each report was compiled for our request. We cut off the counting as of June 30, 2005 to provide a uniform end-date to the various reports.

On Aug. 25, 2005 the FDA sent us 12 CDs and five printed reports containing copies of their Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) report on each drug requested. These reports included all adverse events reported to the FDA, only a portion of which included deaths. We manually counted the number of deaths reported on each drug from the FDA-supplied information.

A review of the FDA Adverse Events reports also revealed some deaths where marijuana was at least a concomitant drug (a drug also used at the time of death) in some cases. On Oct. 14, 2005 we used the Freedom of Information Act to request a copy of the adverse events reported deaths for marijuana/cannabis. We received those reports on Aug. 3, 2006 in the form of three additional CDs.

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=000145#drugdeathchart

It's time to legalize this very effective, yet harmless, plant for medicinal purposes.

Peace,

Ghost

[bbinacan]

1. What are your thoughts

on the link of marijuana use and schizophrenia in users?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. There's a closer link between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis.

Nobody's talking about making cats illegal.

[subcomhd]

19. Nobody? You've never met my dog. nt

[girl gone mad]

24. Actually, schizophrenia is most closely linked with father's age at conception.

[tridim]

3. There is no such link.

Although there are certainly some schizophrenics who smoke pot, there are also millions of non-schizophrenics who smoke pot.

Everyone who smokes pot eventually dies, but that doesn't mean pot caused the death.

[bbinacan]

8. There is a link.

I'll provide info later. I have to head off to an appointment now.

[tridim]

10. Pot Use Doesn’t Exacerbate Symptoms Of Schizophrenia, Study Says

London, United Kingdom: Marijuana use is not associated with heightened symptoms of schizophrenia, according to data to be published in the journal Schizophrenia Research.

Investigators at London’s Institute of Psychiatry assessed whether the prior use of cannabis in patients with schizophrenia was associated with appreciable changes in schizophrenic symptoms compared with patients who had no history of marijuana use. Researchers performed logistic regression analysis on 757 volunteers with cases of first onset schizophrenia. Of these, 182 (24 percent) had reportedly used cannabis in the year prior to diagnosis, while 552 (73 percent) had not. (The remaining three percent had no data available.)

Investigators reported no statistically significant "differences in syptomatology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users" after controlling for patients’ age, sex, and ethnicity.

Researchers also failed to find "any evidence that cannabis users with schizophrenia were more likely to have a family member with the disorder."

These findings "argue against a distinct schizophrenic-like psychosis caused by cannabis," authors concluded.

The study is the largest trial ever conducted to compare cannabis using and non-using schizophrenic patients, investigators said.

More: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7253

[bbinacan]

20. This study is

about people who were already schizophrenic. The data shown me by a psychologist was about normal people being more likely to become schizophrenic. He had some nifty pictures of the brain. I'll see if I can find them on the internet.

[Ghost in the Machine]

5. I haven't read enough on that subject to have an informed opinion about it..

I do know, from personal experience, that some people become very paranoid while using marijuana. I also knew some people who became very paranoid while using cocaine. That's a risk that you run into with *any* drug, imho...

As for myself, the only time I've ever had suicidal thoughts was while I was on anti-depressants... go figure, huh? And they say that is usually only common in teens/yound adults. I'm 46 and just experienced this earlier this year when my ortho gave me amitryptiline for pain.

Peace,

Ghost

[nebenaube]

12. Debunked

by researchers in the Netherlands and New Zealand.

[TxRider]

15. Here is my thoughts on it

I've read several of the studies.

The gist seems to be that if you are going to develop schizophrenia smoking pot may bring it on at an earlier age.

That this link needs more study to find out if it is actually true, or whether people who are going to develop schizophrenia are simply more likely to smoke pot.

Correlation has been seen in other words, but not causality.

[Occulus]

21. My thoughts are, I know someone who is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic

whose psychiatrist recommends the individual keep using it if s/he feels it helps.

[girl gone mad]

23. dupe. n/t

[krispos42]

4. Interesting

But what can you say? Fact have a well-known liberal bias.

[tridim]

6. I know one of the FDA-approved deaths.

Death by Oxycontin.

[rd_kent]

7. Just more factual fuel for us to use in the fight to legalize.

Proves again, what most claim, pot has NEVER killed anyone.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Totals

•TOTAL DEATHS FROM MARIJUANA

Primary suspect / Secondary suspect (contributing) / Total

0 / 279 / 279


•TOTAL DEATHS FROM 17 FDA-APPROVED DRUGS

Primary suspect / Secondary suspect (contributing) / Total

10,008 / 1,679 / 11,687


Thanks for the thread, Ghost in the Machine.

[Romulox]

11. Pot isn't illegal because it's harmful. It's illegal because it ain't.

Hence its widespread use. It's merely an excuse for an erosion of basic civil rights. That's why I'm not optimistic. Obama's DEA continues to raid dispensaries, for example. It's not because the President believes marijuana to be harmful--it's that the boys with guns demand something to shoot.

[SOS]

13. Two points.

Secondary needs more explanation than "at least a concomitant drug in some cases."
Would this mean that someone who had a blood alcohol level of 0.5 and a trace amount of marijuana at time of death is listed as secondary?

The Vioxx deaths look to be lowballed by the FDA:

Death's Due To Vioxx
Dr. Graham also told the Senate Finance Committee that Vioxx may have caused 55,000 deaths alone, more than the 28,000 projected by the FDA. Graham also indicated Vioxx may have caused as many as 160,000 heart attacks, strokes and deaths, combined.

The US Food and Drug Administration denied charges it tried to suppress a safety official's findings that painkiller Vioxx, which was pulled from the market last week, raised heart attack risks.

Dr. David Graham's study on the Merck & Co Inc. arthritis drug was sent through the "standard review process" before being made public in August, the FDA said in a statement released late Thursday.

Graham told Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley on Thursday that FDA officials pressured him to keep quiet or water down his conclusions about Vioxx, according to Grassley.

http://www.4-men.org/mens-health/vioxx-recall.html

[central scrutinizer]

14. Abuse of statistics

Totals are worthless comparison. What would be valid would be comparison of the rates of deaths - how many died divided by how many took each medicine. For example - 25 people died in Class V white water rafting accidents while 50,000 people died in traffic accidents so white water rafting is much, much safer than driving to the grocery store.

[tridim]

16. The question is why haven't we seen these numbers?

And IMO the answer is, the pharmaceutical industry doesn't want us to know how many people are hooked on their chemicals.

We DO know how many millions of people have smoked pot.

If I had to guess I'd say the numbers are about equal.

[Greyhound]

17. K&R for truth.

Reich-wing/corporate noise aside, the continued prohibition of a plant, the billion$ it costs and the thousands of families it destroys every year, is a crime against humanity.

But it's us committing it, so we will pretend it is "debatable".
:grr:

[marlakay]

18. My only worries are if they legalize it will they add poisonous

stuff to it and or water it down. And would it just end up some big huge corp like all the other crappy ones that rip off the little guy???

Maybe they should just make it legal to grow up to 5 plants in your own home. Pure, simple, no problem.

[RagAss]

28. Yes...or poison it to kill us quickly.

[Ghost in the Machine]

22. Shameless kick... (steal these graphics)

I made these, feel free to snag them...


Peace,

Ghost

[Liquorice]

25. I think it should be legalized, but I don't believe it's completely harmless when

used to excess.

[goclark]

26. Our friend is 91 and now on Medical MJ

It was prescribed for him at Kaiser Hospital as a "last chance before he would waste away."

He had lost 20 lbs, would not eat and has Alzheimer's.

That was about 8 months ago.

He is not perfect but he is able to function.

He attended my Mom's(that is his girlfriend) 91st Birthday party a few weeks ago and he was able to enjoy it. He has gained weight and eats now.

His family believes the Medical MJ is working!

Another thing -- my Mom has Alzheimer's and they gave her all the Pharma Delights for that problem.

She went into depression with one of those drugs -- started going into her room, shutting the door and crying.

The 2nd drug, she had chills running through her body at night and could not sleep.


How I wish I could get Medical MJ to just calm her down and make it possible for her to have a good night's sleep.

PS/ I came home to live with my Mom 9 years ago -- when I got here she was taking 11 Pills a day.

I kept asking the doctors ~ " What is this pill really for and why does she need to take it?"

Guess what? That was 9 years ago. For the last 7 years, she has been on 1 pill a day for her Blood Pressure and one for her Diabetes.

Now if I could get her Medical MJ to help her relax a bit, that may help her but to my knowledge, in California, it must be a severe situation.

[mdmc]

27. ..

[tritsofme]

29. I have yet to hear legitimate arguments in favor of cannabis prohibition.

Just as no one has been able to explain to me why we trust an 18 year old to fight and possibly die for his country, but not to enjoy a cold beer when he comes home.