Death from Cannabis ? (in official Belgian statistics)

[mack 10]

I don't think its possible to od on herb, even heroin has to be injected to risk od,
the body has a way of stopping you from taking too much,
basically you pass out/fall asleep.
thus you are unable to consume enough to risk od...

 

[early_bird]

In theese statistics normally all death counted that are related to using this drug. Same was in germany some years ago (currently i don´t know).

For example someone smoked a joint, stepped on the street, car came -> death #(

This is counted as "cannabis death".

Don´t trust statictics ;-)

 

[sixixix]

This crap happened in Norway as well. Last year 2 persons died from cannabis, or at least that`s what the news told us. A more detailed report showed that this was a bit more complicated than the media wanted us to believe.

There is a standard of classifications called ICD-10, used by WHO

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. This includes the analysis of the general health situation of population groups. It is used to monitor the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems.

The two persons who allegedly died from "cannabis use" last year were classified by the codes T40.7 and X44.

T40.7:
Cannabis (derivatives) (Poisoning by, adverse effect of and underdosing of cannabis (derivatives))

X44:
Accidental poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances which includes: agents primarily acting on smooth and skeletal muscles and the respiratory system anaesthetics (general)(local) drugs affecting the: • cardiovascular system • gastrointestinal system hormones and synthetic substitutes systemic and haematological agents systemic antibiotics and other anti-infectives therapeutic gases topical preparations vaccines water-balance agents and drugs affecting mineral and uric acid metabolism

In Norway we have a register for causes of death, but this register only deals with statistics, and contains no info from medical records,autopsies etc. Therefore the use of the codes above won`t really tell you much about the actual cause of death. This means that preexisting factors like heart problems or a body that has lived through years of drug abuse won`t be taken into consideration when one uses these codes to present facts or statistics.

Another factor is that the T40.7 category also includes synthetic cannabinoids (and similar RC`s that affects the same receptors). These RC`s, especially in its pure form, can be very hard to dose correctly due to the insanely small amounts needed to get high. When you smoke cannabis there is a ceiling to how high you can get, but these chemical variants lacks this function and can make incorrect dosing a pretty fatal mistake. If you take 4 x as much as you should, you will more or less get 4 x the high you expected.

As I`ve already said, we`ve had several articles in the news about these two deaths, used to demonize cannabis as a dangerous drug. Some of the articles mentioned that the scientists believed the two deaths was caused by "synthetic cannabinoids", but hurried to add that natural cannabis also could kill you.

This is without doubt a reaction to the normalization of cannabis that we see through society these days, and a lot of people dislike that this trend has reached Norway. They use media to scare the crap out of people to keep their status quo, and I wouldn`t be surprised to see that the same thing is happening in other countries as well. It seems like the prohibitionists are cooperating across borders in Europe, exchanging research and arguments that can be used in the war against drugs, which now has turned into a was against legalization/regulation.


Here is a Google translate of one of the more informative (but still fear-mongering) articles. The translation is OK, but some of the sentences loose their meaning completely. I guess you`ll still get the point:
link

 

[early_bird]

Thanks sixixix, good explanation

 

[Shcrews]

wow thats hilarious, so the government over there have numbers but no actual concrete evidence.

further supports my belief that statistics are bullshit. Obviously nobody smoked themselves to death.

 

[sixixix]

Mother thought to be first woman in Britain to die from cannabis poisoning

Gemma Moss, a 31-year-old churchgoer, collapsed in bed after smoking a cannabis cigarette that led her to have moderate to high levels of the class B drug in her system.

 

[pappy masonjar]

Mack, your statement about herion is not quite correct.. The dope where I live kills sniffers too.
16 deaths in the last 7 days in my small city. And not all of them were injecting.
Its not common for sniffers to die, but it happens.
Especially cause most of it is a herion/fentanyl mix

And cannabis has been attributed as a Secondary cause in the usa over 200 times afaik.
For example, if somebody takes a dab, passes out, cracks thier head open, and dies. Cannabis is the Secondary cause. The fall/ground/head wound are the primary. Same with pot/alcohol and car crashes.
I believe its impossible for any amount of cannabis, not matter how concentrated, to kill a human.

 

[chak-ra]

Thanks so much guys for all your input.

Meanwhile I've been digging a bit... It was a challenging task, but I'm at the end of it and have it figured out.


The Belgian woman, aged 30-34, died in 2002 according to the statistics. Also, when you are looking for one death in specific, including the code (as pointed out, death stats have codes) where it says: death directly attributed to cannabis.

Now, the actual cause of death (written doctors note) is only kept in administrative offices for 2 years before it is destroyed.
I called some people involved in the death stats admin.
They informed me the woman in question has passed on because of a brain oedema (build up of fluids -like blood- inside the body).

Now, we all know cannabis doesn't seem to cause oedemae.
I researched this and as turns out, the substance to blame was....


you guessed it:


TOBACCO!


Case closed!

 

[hydrotek]

Pants .

 

[GrowForPassion]

damn im glad i dont use no tobacco no more...