Colorado is reconsidering its decision to legalize recreational pot following the deaths of dozens due to marijuana overdoses.
According to a report in the Rocky Mountain News, 37 people were killed across the state on January 1st, the first day the drug became legal for all adults to purchase. Several more are clinging onto life in local emergency rooms and are not expected to survive.
"It's complete chaos here," says Dr. Jack Shepard, chief of surgery at St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver, "I've put five college students in body bags since breakfast and more are arriving every minute.
"We are seeing cardiac arrests, hypospadias, acquired trimethylaminuria and multiple organ failures. By next week the death toll could go as high as 200, maybe 300. Someone needs to step in and stop this madness. My god, why did we legalize marijuana? What were we thinking?"
Rainin' Fire in the Sky
Colorado and Washington state approved the sale of marijuana for recreational use in November though statewide ballot measures. Under the new policies pot is legal for adult use, regulated like alcohol and heavily taxed.
One of the principal arguments of legalization advocates was that cannabis has long been considered safer than alcohol and tobacco and was not thought not to cause overdose. But a brave minority tried to warn Coloradans of the drug's dangers.
"We told everyone this would happen," says Peter Swindon, President and CEO of local brewer MolsonCoors, "Marijuana is a deadly hardcore drug that causes addiction and destroys lives.
"When was the last time you heard of someone overdosing on beer? All these pro-marijuana groups should be ashamed of themselves. The victims' blood is on their hands."
One of the those victims was 29-year-old Jesse Bruce Pinkman, a former methamphetamine dealer from Albuquerque who had recently moved to Boulder to establish a legal marijuana dispensary.
Pinkman was partying with friends when he suffered several seizures and a massive heart attack which ultimately proved to be fatal. Toxicology reports revealed that marijuana was the only drug present in his system.
"This is just a terrible tragedy," says his friend Peter, "Jesse was trying to go legit and now this happens? I guess drugs really are as dangerous as they say."
Governor John Hickenlooper, who opposed the ballot initiative that legalized the drug, says he will call a special legislative session to try and overturn the new law.
"We can't sit idly by and allow this slaughter to continue," he says.
Replies
:p
After 7 days ....
Namaste.
No I forgot to close it.
.is it safe to post here now ?.......................
Are there any special reason for why it shouldn't be? :)
I think Mary~jane is safer than a car that kills 1'000's( 10ns of 1'000's around the planet ) every yr............................
But cars are necessary to many and can't really be chosen away. I am allergic to most perfumes for instance which means that I can not use the bus since the air in the bus is always saturated with multiple brands of perfumes which effectively sends me down the coughing blood-part of life that I normally always go to great lengths to avoid. ;)
Compare it to cigarettes instead, which are NOT necessary and are indeed a choice and also kills a hell of a lot more. Booze is also a fine example since it's the reason behind 10% of ALL deaths in Europe, now that's a number! ;)
ganja overdose...lol. Thats a first........................
I call BS on the headline (that's how far I got before I became outraged by this article). It's impossible to overdose cannabis. The deadly dose for a rat is 40 kg. For a human it'd be several hundred kilos.
Technically you COULD die from it if you pack a lamp-post full of weed and then inhale it all in one blow, but I know of no human that have a lung-capacity of .5 m3 so... The risk is minimal. ;)
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