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There are at least 10 drug that are more deadly than marijuana , including some that are legal , such as alcohol and nicotine , a new study by researcher in Germany and Canada finds .
In fact , drinking alcoholic beverage — the deadliest drug on the list — is about 100 times more dangerous than using marijuana , the scientists reason in the field of study , which was based on data from animal study and published Jan. 30 in the journalScientific Reports .
The margin of exposure, a ratio that calculates the likelihood of lethal drug overdose, for daily drug use.
Marijuana is tag as a Schedule I dose in the United States , think of that under Union law , it is illegal and can not be used for aesculapian intent ( althoughsome states have legalizedits use ) .
The new determination resound the results of old study , and lawgiver should take this research into thoughtfulness when draught new policies , the researchers said . [ Marijuana vs. Alcohol : Which Is Really Worse for Your Health ? ]
The low risk that marijuana poses to multitude ’s wellness suggests that the drug should be rigorously govern but not nix , the researchers wrote in the survey .
The margin of exposure, a ratio that calculates the likelihood of lethal drug overdose, for daily drug use.
But other experts say more depth psychology is require so as to make a termination about marijuana ’s full impact . For case , study should regard the effects of the drug on multitude ’s behavior , as well as the impact it has on society , some researchers say .
" deadliness is not the only shape of dangerousness , " said Jonathan Caulkins , a prof of public insurance policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh , who was not involve with the discipline . " The lethality of a substance is absolutely relevant to the making of public policy , but it is only one part " of the bigger picture , he enjoin .
In the sketch , the researchers calculated the health risk of each drug by looking at a measure called the " margin of exposure " ( MOE ) , which is a ratio that compare the approximate amount of a drug needed to defeat a person to the amount that people commonly take . In essence , the MOE rate the likelihood that someone could take a lethal overdose of a drug : When the ratio is low , the drug is deadlier .
But THC ( THC ) , the active element in marijuana , had an MOE high than 100 , meaning the chances of a lethal overdose are slim , the researchers say . Alcohol , diacetylmorphine , cocaine and nicotine are take mellow - risk drug because their MOEs are less than 10 , the researchers found . Other drugs — include MDMA , methamphetamine , fixer ( a narcotic often used to treat heroin summation ) , speed ( a stimulation that treat narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ) and Valium ( brand name name Valium ) — were a small less risky , with MOEs between 10 and 100 .
However , there are several caveats to the finding . First , the numbers for the MOE are based on animate being information , as it ’s not ethical or secure to test drug lethality in the great unwashed . Also , the MOEs are compute base on the habit of each drug on an individual basis , whereas in real life , it ’s common for people to use several drug at the same meter , the researchers said .
Moreover , the MOE does n’t factor in other wellness risks associated with drugs , such as infections from dirty syringes , the researchers tell in the study .
For the most part , the new study supports earlier body of work on the risk of dying from drugs , Caulkins said . It ’s surprising that diacetylmorphine is less severe than inebriant , but not that marijuana is relatively low - peril , he said .
But policymakers need to factor in dependence and plus , Caulkins say . drug can also impair decision making , driving ability and productivity , and children may experience misuse and neglect if their parent are pendant user of legal drugs , he said .
Emerging evidence also intimate thatmarijuana enjoyment may be associated with heart problems . For instance , two young men in Germanydied after taking marijuana , according to a 2014 discipline in the daybook Forensic Science International . Other research has found that marijuana apply canchange brain structure , and it ’s unsung what effects these changes might have .
Although the MOE values are interesting , more research is need to determine the full impact of marijuana on health and society , Caulkins enjoin .
A drug ’s deadliness " has to be part of an analytic thinking that regard these other things also , " he said .
