Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol And Cigarettes, Says A Report From The Beckley Foundation

Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol And Cigarettes, Says A Report From The Beckley Foundation | Health | Sky News
The Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission document said the cannabis ban had backfired and called for a “serious rethink” of drugs policy. 

The ban has had little or no impact on supply and has turned users into criminals, it said.

“Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms, it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco,” the report claimed.

Historically there have only been two deaths worldwide attributed to cannabis, whereas alcohol and tobacco together are responsible for an estimated 150,000 deaths per annum in the UK alone.

“Many of the harms associated with cannabis use are the result of prohibition itself, particularly the social harms arising from arrest and imprisonment,” the authors concluded.

They added that, by legalising dope, it would be regulated and would make it easier to stop children becoming users.

“It is only through a regulated market that we can better protect young people from the ever more potent forms of dope, known as ‘skunk’,” the report said.

A lot of this report comes from the Department of No Duh; we all know that cannabis is far safer than alcohol and cigarettes.  What caught my eye was the assertion that there are two deaths worldwide attributable to cannabis.  We know cannabis is non-toxic; you’d have to eat the equivalent of 1,500 lbs. of bud in fifteen minutes to “overdose”.

Turns out the Beckley Foundation is referring to a report by the British House of Lords from 1998, which notes:

The acute toxicity of cannabis and the cannabinoids is very low; no-one has ever died as a direct and immediate consequence of recreational or medical use (DH QQ 219 223). Official statistics record two deaths involving cannabis (and no other drug) in 1993, two in 1994 and one in 1995 (HC WA 533, 21 January 1998); but these were due to inhalation of vomit.

I don’t really think it’s fair to say someone who died of vomit asphyxiation after getting high on pot died because of the pot.  That’s like saying someone died from heavy metal because they were listening to “Spinal Tap” on an iPod and couldn’t hear the bus that hit them in the crosswalk.

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Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer): “Well, it’s not a very pleasant story, but uh…” 
David: “He’s passed on.” 
Derek: “He died– He choked on– The ac– The official explaination was, he choked on vomit. He past away.” 
Nigel: “It was actually someone else’s vomit.” 
David: “It was ugly.” 
Nigel: “You know, there’s no real…” 
Derek: “Well, they can’t prove whose vomit it was. They never– They don’t have facilities in Scotland Yard to…” 
Nigel: “You can’t really dust for vomit.”