How Much Marijuana Would It Take To Kill You? Quite A Bit, Actually (As In Several Hundred Pounds)

If you’re still convinced marijuana is a dangerous drug, writer David Schmader has some news for you: in order to die from smoking marijuana, you’d have to smoke about 1,500 pounds of the stuff in 15 minutes before you start approaching fatal levels of ingestion.

As Yahoo News reports, Schmader’s “groundbreaking” findings are published in his new, slightly humorous book, Weed: The User’s Guide. I use quotes around the word “groundbreaking” because the notion that you’d need to smoke comically and impossibly large amounts of Sticky Icky to overdose on it is nothing new. Hell, I remember being told as a teenager — in the height of the Reagan Era, no less — that the only way you’re going to die from a marijuana overdose is if you smoke a whole bale of it in one big drag.

This is how much marijuana it would take to kill you — from @davidschmader‘s excellent book, “Weed.” pic.twitter.com/ZM5qIjK1re

— Melia Robinson (@meliarobin) November 4, 2016

“Even aspirin can kill you if you take too much, but a fatal dose of marijuana would require ingestion of fifteen hundred pounds in fifteen minutes — a physical impossibility for any human, even Snoop Dogg.”

The reason that marijuana is un-overdoseable (is that a word?) has to do with how the brain works. THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, activates chemicals in the brain, called “cannabinoid receptors,” which work on the areas of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, cognition… stuff like that. That’s why stoners giggle uncontrollably at SpongeBob SquarePants, get hungry, dig jazz, and savor delicious snacks when they’re high.

What pot does not affect, unlike other drugs such as opioids, are critical functions of the brain like breathing.

That’s why the number of fatalities from overdosing on marijuana, in all of recorded history, is and always will be zero. By comparison, 28,000 Americans in 2014 die from overdoses on opioids such as heroin and prescription painkillers, and 88,000 die each year, on average, from alcohol-related issues. Even the most popular mind-altering drug in the United States, caffeine, manages to kill, or at least seriously sicken, one or two people per year on average, according to Caffeine Informer. One notable example of caffeine overdose occurred in 2007, when 19-year-old James Stone died from taking 25-30 N0-Doz caffeine pills. Stone fatally overdosed with about 70 grams of caffeine; by comparison, a cup of coffee contains about 95-200 mg of caffeine, according to the Mayo Clinic.

That’s not to say that there’s absolutely zero danger in using pot. For one thing, the user (if he smokes it, that is), is ingesting burning plant matter into his mouth, throat, and lungs. That can’t be good, although just how bad for the body that is, no one can say; marijuana’s status as a Class I controlled substance means it’s impossible for researchers to conduct peer-reviewed academic research on it.

For another thing, having your memory and cognition impaired is not a good thing when you’re doing an activity which requires all of your attention as well as split-second decision-making, such as driving. So, you know, don’t drive stoned and all that.

And even though it’s impossible to die from overdosing on marijuana, that doesn’t mean that you can’t consume so much that you’ll wish you were dead. Just ask journalist Maureen Dowd, who famously got super high on-camera and subsequently had one of the most epic pot freakouts ever recorded.

Fortunately, Schmader’s Weed book comes with advice on handling pot psychosis, should you down too many pot “edibles” or take one too many bong rips. Schmader recommends eating a sugary snack, calling a friend to talk you through it, and most importantly, reminding yourself that you’re going to be OK and that you’re not going to overdose on pot, because it’s scientifically impossible.

[Featured Image by patronestaff/Shutterstock]