Thousands of clinic admissions through cannabis?

Because of cannabis, more than 10,000 consumers need to go to the clinic

02/26/2014

On average, 28 people in Germany are hospitalized every day for cannabis use. In 2012, there were a total of more than 10,000 hospital stays, which accounted for mental and behavioral disorders caused by cannabinoids. The number of cases has almost tripled in ten years.

Cases have tripled
In Germany, an average of 28 people come to the hospital every day for the consumption of cannabis products. As the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) announced on Tuesday in Hamburg, citing data from the Federal Statistical Office, accounted for in 2012 a total of 10,142 hospital stays in the Federal Republic on the diagnosis „Mental and behavioral disorders due to cannabinoids.“ In the past ten years, the number of cases has thus almost tripled.

Far more hospital stays because of alcohol
Four out of five patients with this diagnosis were male and only one fifth of the hospital visits were female. The patients remained statistically 12.3 days in the clinic. However, according to the dpa news agency, the number of hospital stays attributable to alcohol was far higher: 345,034 cases were recorded at that time. And the number of hospitalizations for opioids such as heroin was significantly higher with 26,512 cases than with cannabis.

Cannabis allegedly proven to be a cause of death
Only a few days ago, reports spread that German scientists should have demonstrated that the use of cannabis can also lead to death. For example, lawyers at the University of Düsseldorf had diagnosed heart failure as a cause of death in two men aged 23 and 28 as a result of their cannabis use. Dr. Benno Hartung, forensic physician and co-author of the case report, published in the journal „Forensic Science International“ appeared, said: „To the best of our knowledge, these are the first cannabis deaths in the world that have been completely recovered to the current scientific standards.“ But there are also doubts about these results.

Consume 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes
By the late 1980s, the US Department of Drug Administration (DEA) had been desperately trying to use cannabis to kill experimental animals in order to determine an LD-50 level (the deadly dose for 50 percent of subjects) for the drug. They came to the conclusion that this is physically impossible. The DEA report states: „A number of researchers have tried unsuccessfully to determine the LD-50 for marijuana from experimental animals. Simply put, the researchers could not give the animals enough marijuana to kill them.“ The LD-50 value of marijuana is estimated at 1: 20,000 or 1: 40,000. Thus, a smoker would need to consume 20,000 or 40,000 times as much marijuana as contained in a joint to cause death. The DEA report states, „a smoker would theoretically consume about 1,500 pounds of marijuana within 15 minutes to cause a fatal reaction.“

Aspirin more deadly than cannabis
For comparison, it should also be noted that the LD-50 value of aspirin is around 1:20, and for the overwhelming majority of all prescription medications, it is 1:10 or even lower. Thus, aspirin would be at least a thousand times more deadly than cannabis. The cannabis expert Dr. Grotenhermen sees the findings of the colleagues from Dusseldorf skeptical: „In most cases, there is no cause for sudden cardiac death, and if you find THC in those affected then that does not say anything about the cause.“ But he also points out possible dangers: „Nobody is advised to use cannabis with heart disease, nor anyone with schizophrenia.“ (Sb)