Posted by Marc Abrahams in
Improbable
Research
There’s
news about the literally grave danger that a feared drug might pose for someone
somewhere someday. Details are in a new study. The study describes two persons
who died from no obvious cause, and who—the doctors conclude — therefore must
have died from the unknown amounts of marijuana that they are likely to have
consumed at some point in the minutes, hours or days prior to their death:
“Sudden unexpected death
under acute influence of cannabis,” Benno Hartung, Silke Kauferstein, Stefanie Ritz-Timme, Thomas Daldrup, Forensic Science
International, vol. 237, April 2014, pp. e11-e13.
“We describe the cases of two young men who died unexpectedly
under the acute influence of cannabinoids. To our knowledge, these are the
first cases of fatal cannabis smoking where full postmortem investigations were
carried out….
After exclusion of other causes of death we assume that the young
men experienced fatal cardiovascular complications evoked by smoking
cannabis….The absolute risk of cannabis-related cardiovascular effects can be
considered to be low…. Nevertheless, it is impossible to predict….”
The
marijuana danger is comparable, in some ways, to the danger-of-death posed by
another feared drug. This study describes four persons who died after ingesting
extremely large amounts of water in a very short time:
“Water intoxication (WI) is a rare condition that originates
from over-consumption of water, with a potentially fatal outcome. Increased
water intake (polydipsia) is followed by urination of high amount of diluted
urine (polyuria) which are the main initial symptoms of WI. We present four
case reports of WI.”
BONUS:
A New Scientist report about the marijuana report: “Cannabis can kill
without the influence of other drugs“. Also, a Daily Mail report.
BONUS
(possibly related):
“Acute water intoxication during military urine drug
screening,” M.A. Tilley, C.L.
Conant, Military Medicine, vol. 176, no. 4, April 2011, pp. 451-3.
“Random mandatory urine drug screening is a routine practice in
the military. The pressure to produce a urine specimen creates a temptation to
consume large volumes of water, putting those individuals at risk of acute
water intoxication. This occurs when the amount of water consumed exceeds the
kidney’s ability to excrete it, resulting in hyponatremia owing to excess
amount of water compared to serum solutes.
The acute drop in serum osmolality
leads to cerebral edema, causing headaches, confusion, seizures, and death.
There has been increasing awareness of the danger of overhydration among
performance athletes, but dangers in other groups can be underappreciated.
We
present the case of a 37-year-old male Air Force officer who developed acute
water intoxication during urine drug screening. Our case demonstrates the need
for a clear Air Force policy for mandatory drug testing to minimize the risk of
developing this potentially fatal condition.”
See
more at: http://www.improbable.com/#sthash.0Ib3XWJI.dpuf