Opinion, not fact
|
TABLE 3.4 Prevalence of Drug Use and Dependencea in the General Population |
||
|
Drug Category |
Proportion That Have |
Proportion of Users That |
|
Tobacco |
76 |
32 |
|
Alcohol |
92 |
15 |
|
Marijuana (including hashish) |
46b |
9 |
|
Anxiolytics (including sedatives and hypnotic drugs) |
13 |
9 |
|
Cocaine |
16 |
17 |
|
Heroin |
2 |
23 |
|
aDiagnosis of drug dependence used in this study based on DSM-III-R criteria.2 |
||
|
bThe percentage of people who ever used marijuana is higher than that reported by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (32%), probably due to different survey methods (for discussion, see Kandel, 199276). |
||
|
SOURCE: Adapted from Table 2 in Anthony and co-workers (1994).8 |
||
http://www.oregon.gov/pharmacy/Imports/Marijuana/StaffReview/ReschedulingCannabis-NOTES_3-10.pdf
Alcohol:
has an LD50 of 0.40% BAC, with approx 100,000 deaths in the US annually
Tobacco:
The LD50 of nicotine is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice. 40–60 mg
(0.5-1.0 mg/kg) can be a lethal dosage for adult humans. Tobacco/nicotine
accounts for nearly 1/2 million US deaths annually.
Cannabis:
In summary, enormous doses of Delta 9 THC, All THC and concentrated
marihuana extract ingested by mouth were unable to produce death or organ
pathology in large mammals but did produce fatalities in smaller rodents
due to profound central nervous system depression.
The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey
would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds
(21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In
addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys.
These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time
almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual
smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming
50% destruction of the THC by smoking.
Thus, evidence from animal studies and human case reports appears to
indicate that the ratio of lethal dose to effective dose is quite large.
This ratio is much more favorable than that of many other common
psychoactive agents including alcohol and barbiturates (Phillips et al.
1971, Brill et al. 1970).