Cannabis is safer

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 * Share links: safer - safer cannabis - safercannabis. See: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: Republican-led drug war. And: Register and vote.

Click the images below to enlarge them, and for info. 10 marijuana myths exposed.
 * Marijuana Legalization in Washington State: One-Year Status Report. July 6, 2015. By Drug Policy Alliance. "New Report Finds Major Fiscal Benefits, Decrease in Violent Crime, No Increase in Youth Marijuana Use or Traffic Fatalities – And Massive Drop in Marijuana Arrests."
 * House Republicans say no to allowing federal studies of medical marijuana. . July 9, 2015.
 * Video. The Difference Between Getting Drunk and Getting High. . ATTN.
 * See also: Marijuana Is Safer.org.

Tobacco: One in nine deaths globally
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6.4 million deaths attributed to smoking tobacco in 2015.. Out of 56.6 million deaths worldwide in 2015.. That is one out of nine deaths actually, not one out of ten.


 * Smoking prevalence and attributable disease burden in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. April 2017. The Lancet.

Tobacco: One in five deaths in USA
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480,000 deaths attributed to tobacco smoking in the USA annually. Out of 2.6 million deaths in the USA in 2015. That is almost one in five deaths in the USA.

E-cigarettes
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Harm reduction taking hold concerning tobacco.


 * Smoking numbers hit new low as Britons turn to vaping to help quit cigarettes. By Sarah Boseley. 7 March 2017. The Guardian. And: E-cigarettes should be offered to smokers, say doctors - BBC News. . By Michelle Roberts. 28 April 2016. BBC News.

Tobacco versus cannabis
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New Study: Cigarettes Tied To Increased Stroke Risk But Not Marijuana. January 2, 2017. And: Cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and the world is waking up to it. June 27, 2016 article. "A report from Bloomberg.com published in June 2015 stated that 29 percent of U.S. life insurers with official policies in place for cannabis users now class them as non-smokers."

 Worth repeating: marijuana decreases risk of lung cancer.  By David Downs on June 9, 2015. And it does not cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cannabis does not have the hundreds of synthetic additives found in cigarettes.

[http://www.tricountycessation.org/tobaccofacts/Cigarette-Ingredients.html '''Cigarette Ingredients - Chemicals in Cigarettes. Tri-County Cessation Center''']. "The list of 599 additives approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the five major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in April of 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret. ... While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning them, and it is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties, often for the worse. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette – 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer." See: Tobacco harm reduction. See Marijuana habit not linked to lung cancer : IMNG Oncology Report: "The difference in risk is likely related to chemical additives in commercial cigarettes that aren’t present in most methods of inhaling marijuana smoke." See: List of additives in cigarettes. See: Health problems associated with tobacco smoking. See also: Pot Smoking Not Linked To Breathing Problems; May Help Lungs. By Steve Elliott on March 6, 2013.

"In October 2008 the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) became the first medical organization in the U.S. to officially endorse tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to reduce the death toll related to cigarette smoking." Joel Nitzkin: "So if we can figure that the nicotine in the e-cigarettes is basically a generic version of the same nicotine that is in prescription products, we have every reason to believe that the hazard posed by e-cigarettes would be much lower than one percent, probably lower than one tenth of one percent of the hazard posed by regular cigarettes." 
 * }

Diet and cannabis
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This chart shows the annual death rate from sugary drinks per million adults in selected countries. Sugary Drinks Kill 24,000 Mexicans Every Year. By Niall McCarthy, Jul 15, 2015.

Teens and cannabis
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Alcohol and cannabis
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From the article linked just above the chart: "Last year [2014], more than 30,700 Americans died from alcohol-induced causes, including alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, which is primarily caused by alcohol use. ... This tally of alcohol-induced fatalities excludes deaths from drunk driving, other accidents, and homicides committed under the influence of alcohol. If those numbers were included the annual toll of deaths directly or indirectly caused by alcohol would be closer to 90,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
 * USA. 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults are alcohol-related (disease, overdose, car crashes, falls, violence, and more). 87,798 per year from 2006 to 2010..
 * Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows. By Radley Balko, August 5, 2014. The Washington Post..
 * Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. Teen drivers have 3 times more fatal crashes per mile driven. Drinking and driving (2700 yearly), and texting while driving (3000 yearly), are the leading causes. Scary video. . Graduated driver licensing has been shown to greatly reduce teen accidents. . Oct. 2014 article: In California full marijuana decriminalization went into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, the report finds that "marijuana decriminalization in California has not resulted in harmful consequences for teenagers, such as increased crime, drug overdose, driving under the influence, or school dropout. In fact, California teenagers showed improvements in all risk areas after reform." Maybe we should consider graduated drinking licenses for alcohol modeled on customs in France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, etc..
 * Americans are drinking themselves to death at record rates. By Christopher Ingraham, December 22, 2015. Washington Post. Chart below is from the article.

Legal cannabis does not increase fatal car crashes
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 * Marijuana legalization doesn't lead to more fatal car crashes, finds Texas doctor. By Fernando Ramirez. Houston Chronicle. June 23, 2017.

Other drugs versus cannabis
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USA. Tobacco deaths are now 480,000 a year. . CDC: "In 2012, of the 41,502 drug overdose deaths in the United States, 22,114 (53%) were related to pharmaceuticals. In 2012, 33,175 (79.9%) of the 41,502 drug overdose deaths in the United States were unintentional, 5,465 (13.2%) were of suicidal intent, 80 (0.2%) were homicides, and 2,782 (6.7%) were of undetermined intent." . 16,238 homicides in 2011. . Aspirin number is actually for NSAIDs (take with milk or antacid ). Peanut allergy deaths is more like 10. Stat sources (all deaths):.


 * 100 Die From Tylenol Overdose Each Year. Marijuana = Zero. By Steve Elliott. February 15, 2012. #1 story on Digg.

Above chart found in these two articles:
 * These Are the Drugs That Cause the Most Overdose Deaths. January 1, 2017.
 * Fentanyl Rises as Cause of Drug Overdose Deaths. Dec. 20, 2016.

Above chart from Overdose Death Rates. By National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). "National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from All Drugs. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving all drugs from 2002 to 2015. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths of females and males. From 2002 to 2015 there was a 2.2-fold increase in the total number of deaths."

Pot versus pills
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How medical marijuana could help curb the opioid crisis. January 13, 2017. CBC Radio. "using marijuana as a replacement for other substances — including alcohol and both illicit and prescription drugs." And: Could pot help solve the U.S. opioid epidemic? By Greg Miller. Nov. 3, 2016. Science Magazine. "they found a significant difference in the number of prescriptions for several conditions, including anxiety and nausea, in states with medical marijuana."

Microdosing and cannabis
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Why Microdosing Is Taking Over Medical Marijuana. April 20, 2017. Rolling Stone. From the article:

Crack cocaine and cannabis
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 * Cannabis may help wean people off crack, study finds. By Mike Hager. The Globe and Mail. May 16, 2017.

Opiates and prescription opioid pain relievers
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Big Pharma at work: How Big Tobacco-style marketing propels U.S. opioid crisis — and powers $400 billion pharma industry. June 24, 2017. From the article:


 * Drug firms poured 780 million painkillers into West Virginia amid rise of overdoses. Dec 17, 2016. Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Addiction Specialists Ponder a Potential Aid: Pot. By Matt Richtel, March 27, 2017,  New York Times. And: Best Way To Kick Opiates: Use Cannabis!, Says Addiction Expert. By Steve Elliott, Jan 2, 2017. And: The Surprising Way Aging Pain Patients Can Get Off Opiates. By Phillip Smith, AlterNet, November 3, 2016. And: Pot Vs. Pills: Can Marijuana Help Cure The Opiate Crisis? By Aaron Payne, Ohio Valley ReSource, July 18, 2016.

'''[https://news.vice.com/article/more-canadian-cops-than-ever-are-using-medical-marijuana More current and former Canadian cops are using medical marijuana. Veterans too].''' By Rachel Browne. July 13, 2016. Vice News. And: 'Pot Over Pills’ Protesters Camp Out For Veterans Day. By Philip Lewis. Nov 12, 2015. Huffington Post. See also: United States military veteran suicide.





More numbers on drug overdose deaths
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See  Drug overdose. See the "Causes" section for a list of the various drugs. More than one drug is often involved in an overdose death. These numbers for drug overdoses do not count deaths where alcohol is the main cause.

"During 2014, 47,055 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States. Since 2000, the age-adjusted drug overdose death rate has more than doubled, from 6.2 per 100,000 persons in 2000 to 14.7 per 100,000 in 2014." - Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. January 1, 2016 article.

Rates of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 by U.S. state. See the source for the numbers for the colors within the map, and better legibility.







Institute of Medicine
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Quotes in the image to the left (and in the text below) are from the U.S. government's landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. The full text of the report is available for free online at the above link, and is searchable. The table of contents by chapter is on the sidebar. The report is also available as a free PDF download. Quotes below are followed by their references.  Emphasis  added.

Page 109: "Indeed, epidemiological data indicate that in the general population  marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality . 138"
 * - 138. Sidney S, Beck JE, Tekawa IS, Quesenberry CP Jr, Friedman GD. 1997a. Marijuana use and mortality. American Journal of Public Health 87:585—590.

Page 107: "When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms [amotivation], the drug is often cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between marijuana smoking and these behavior characteristics. 23"
 * - 23. Chait LD, Pierri J. 1992. Effects of smoked marijuana on human performance: A critical review. In: L Murphy and A Bartke, Editors, Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Pp. 387—424.

Page 119: " There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans , including cancers usually related to tobacco use."

Clinical trials and cannabis
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 * Review Identifies 140 Controlled Clinical Trials Related to Cannabis. By Paul Armentano. June 4, 2017. From the article: "A pair of German researchers identified 140 clinical trials involving an estimated 8,000 participants. ... A 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that new drugs typically gain FDA approval on the basis of one or two pivotal clinical trials."

Cannabis and athletic performance
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 * Tanner Hall and the Athlete’s Case for Cannabis. By Charles Bethea. March 18, 2016. New Yorker.
 * Maryland: Baltimore Ravens Tackle Gives $10K To Marijuana Research, Asks Players To Contribute. By Derrick Stanley. March 15, 2016. Hemp News.

The Devastating Effects of Marijuana Legalization
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Reefer Madness
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 * Why Is Marijuana Banned? The Real Reasons Are Worse Than You Think. By Johann Hari. 11 Feb 2016. Many of the comments are informative too.

SAFER. Marijuana is safer than alcohol
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 * Category: Cannabis is safer.
 * Category: Marijuana is safer than alcohol.
 * Category: Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER).
 * MarijuanaIsSafer.org

Right-click images below for image info and larger sizes.


 * Facebook: Marijuana is Safer. Book by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert.

2005. Denver legalizes cannabis
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See:
 * Denver, Colorado . 2005 section about Denver legalizing cannabis.

Featured group:

Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
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 * saferchoice.org
 * Denver, Colorado, USA.
 * Facebook: Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
 * Facebook: Causes on Facebook. SAFER
 * saferdenver.saferchoice.org
 * twitter.com/SAFERchoice
 * myspace.com/saferchoice
 * think.mtv.com/profile/SAFER
 * youtube.com/user/SaferChoice
 * Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation - Wikipedia.








 * Rethinking Marijuana. It’s less harmful than alcohol and time to treat it that way. Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

Presidents' views concerning cannabis
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See: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration.

Presidents can not reschedule it
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Green love
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Portugal. Few die of overdoses
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USA. Republican war on cannabis
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Categories
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