A recent article headline from the UK paper, The Macclesfield Express exclaimed
"Cannabis is blamed for teen's death"I was so appalled by this, I signed up for their website and left this comment:
"I think the Cheshire Coroner's Office is exploiting the death of this young chef trainee. From what I gathered he was doing well and was clean - NO drugs in his system. This boys parents are grieving for their Son and it is unconscionable that someone decided to use the premature death of this young man to suit their political agenda of continuing (unjust) Prohibition.
This Deputy Coroner should be fired - if he demonstrates this much incompetence to the the public, imagine all of the other mistakes he could be making behind closed lab doors.
How inept and outright ridiculous to declare Cannabis as the Cause of Death when there are so many other factors that probably contributed to his death first. Cocaine? Meth? Amphetamines? Possibly Tobacco and Alcohol? And a previous Heart Attack? Maybe even the fall he took? I'm not a Dr. but it is more than likely that it was one or a combination of those things that were contributors and/or possible causes of his death.
I suggest your paper give the Coroner this American DEA Study to read:
The Young Decision: excerpts from Drug Enforcement Agency Administrative Law Judge Francis Young (it's in regard of Medical Cannabis but this relates directly to the low toxicity of the Cannabis plant)
VIII: Cannabis/Marijuana's Accepted Safety for Use Under Medical Supervision
3. The most obvious concern when dealing with drug safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug cause death?
4. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana (cannabis) is not such a sub-stance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.
5. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on cannabis encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, cannabis is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that 20-million to 50-million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming cannabis has caused a single death.
6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.
7. Drugs in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine cannabis's LD-50 rating in test animal, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough cannabis to induce death.
8. At present it is estimated that cannabis's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 time as much cannabis as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approxi-mately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response.
9. In practical terms, cannabis cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.
10. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio de-fines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose capable of inducing adverse effects.
11. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding.
12. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients use 10 times the recommended dose.
13. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the drugs used in anti-neoplastic therapies, for example, are regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed.
14. By contrast, marijuana's therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high.
15. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death.
16. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis cannabis can be safely used with a supervised routine of medical care.
http://www.fcda.org/judge.young.htm
I hope Coroner Roberts pays special attention to #8 - "A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response." (Impossible to do!) & #6 - "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. (more on the effects of Cannabis here: http://www.fcda.org/tenthings.html
Momentum for re-legalizing Cannabis is gaining steam throughout the world - please be aware that this sort of blatant, deceitful Propaganda will be increasingly spewed by organizations who have a stake in continuing the failed War on Drugs (via the Main Stream Media) at increasingly breakneck speeds. A couple of weeks ago a British study was released that stated "Cannabis damages human DNA". But what wasn't in the press release was that the study wasn't even performed on human DNA, but "Calf Thymus". It was
called out here.
IMO, Deputy Coroner Geoff Roberts has some 'splainin' to do. And he better do it quick - before Defense lawyers get a sniff of this story and start appealing the Cheshire Coroners Office findings in their clients (homicide) cases as this one is so obviously flawed and misleading.
Coroner Roberts, in choosing to "Blame Cannabis" before the other obvious contributing factors calls into question his knowledge, and therefore his qualifications and abilities as a Coroner.
I'm sure when his peers in his field read about his inquest "findings" they will laugh him out of his job." ~ MaryJane Cannabian
Not soon after, the UK Telegraph picked up this story also, except their headline was even worse: "
Coroner blames death on "Toxic Cannabis""
The original version of this article was even more disgusting, the UK Telegraph committed a blatant act of "
cherry-picking".
In the original posting the Telegraph decided to leave out the following information:
No mention of the fact he had NO Cannabis in his system. The Doctor who performed the autopsy listed the official Cause of Death of young Adie as "Inflammation of the Heart" - conveniently leaving out the fact that he also had a history of using Cocaine, Meth, Amphetamines, AND had suffered a Heart Attack on 2007.
I was so incensed I immediately sent a Letter to the Editor:
Re: Your Story on July 1st. "Coroner blames death on "Toxic Cannabis"Shame on the Telegraph for this outright shameful display of Propaganda and Yellow Journalism! What you have done is called "Cherry Picking" - you have decided to only print some info of this story - while leaving out other very important pieces! First, this young man had a history of using Cocaine, Meth, Amphetamines, AND had suffered a Heart Attack in 2007. You also failed to mention the fact he had NO Cannabis or any other drugs in his system when he died and that the Doctor who performed the autopsy listed the Cause of Death as "Inflammation of the Heart".
This Deputy Coroner, Geoff Roberts should be fired for recklessly lying and misleading the public! If he demonstrates this much incompetence to the general population, imagine all of the other mistakes he could be making behind closed lab doors. How inept and outright ridiculous to declare Cannabis as the cause of death when there are so many other factors that could have contributed to his death first. Cocaine? Meth? Amphetamines? Possibly Tobacco and Alcohol? And a previous Heart Attack? Maybe even the fall he took? I'm not a Dr. but it is more than likely that it was one or a combination of those things that were contributors and/or possible causes of death.
Please familiarize yourself with DEA Judge Dr. Francis Young, who concluded:
"A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death."
I also think the Cheshire Coroners Office office is exploiting the death of this young chef trainee. From what I gathered he was doing well and was clean - NO drugs in his system. This boys parents are grieving for their Son and it is unconscionable that that someone decided to exploit the premature death of this young man to suit their political agenda of unjust Prohibition.
I beg all readers to realize: Momentum for legalizing Cannabis is gaining steam throughout the world - please be aware that this sort of blatant, deceitful Propaganda will be increasingly spewed by organizations who have a stake in continuing the failed War on Drugs (via the Main Stream Media) at increasingly breakneck speeds. Please look at all facts before making conclusions, and educate yourself on the true scientific findings regarding Cannabis.
MaryJane Cannabian
Canada
Editor: The Links for Dr. Young's Study (so you can read for yourself)
http://www.fcda.org/judge.young.htmhttp://www.fcda.org/tenthings.htmlLink to
Macclesfield Express article that blatantly stated the same as the Telegraph, but at least listed the other info about the autopsy and his other Drug use.
I think the Telegraph should release a Correction and do a proper investigation of this story - before you mislead and lie to your readers any further. True Journalists fact-check their stories first! ~
Within a couple of hours of sending my letter, the Telegraph updated the story to include the info that he had also used hard drugs - but still leaves out the fact that he had already suffered a Heart Attack in 2007.
Propaganda at its best people - BEWARE!
UPDATEMore spin out of the UK. The latest headline comes from the Lancashire Telegraph and reads: "
Judge issues warning on dangers of cannabis after Hapton teen's case"
"Sentencing Judge Philip Butler said: "Those misguided people who seem to believe the use of cannabis is harmless would do well to read some of the reports before me, because this 19-year-old man, from a good family, has developed psychosis, thanks to the use of cannabis and also ecstasy."
"AND ALSO ECSTASY.... " But the headline lists only cannabis danger?
Not to sound harsh, but it seems to me this young man has a whole host of problems. He was being treated at the time of the attack for psychosis in a hospital, so there is a strong possibility that he was also administered legal prescription drugs. Were they in his system at the time of the attack?
It seems to me, taking a non-medical, educated guess, that this happens to be a case of a young man with psychiatric problems who also happened to use ecstasy and cannabis.
In fact, the whole Cannabis causing schizophrenia and psychosis theory
has been debunked, and by the very country this story comes out of no less:
"A team of researchers at the Keele University Medical School have once and for all put the ‘pot-and-mental illness’ claims to the test. Writing in a forthcoming edition of the scientific journal Schizophrenia Research, they compare long-term trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia and/or psychoses in the United Kingdom. And what do they find?
“[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10 year period. This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. … This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence.”
I guess Judge Butler missed this news, but at the very least he chose to send the young man to a hospital for assessment under the Mental Health Act instead of jail. He needs help and doctors are better suited to treat him than prison guards.
I've written a letter to the Lancashire Telegraph informing them about the UK research. Hopefully they have the courage to inform their readers of the truth. If not, chalk another one up to
Yellow Journalism.
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