The estimated LD-50 (lethal threshold) for marijuana,established in 1988 by the DEA’s appropriate fact-finder, is 1:20,000 or 1:40,000.

Quote:

“At present it is estimated that marijuana’s LD-50 is around1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.

cannabis-science.com/content/DEA%20Ruling%20Judge%20Young.pdf

Page 1

Note: In Judge Young’s report cannabis is referred to as marijuana

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration

_______________________________________

)

In The Matter Of

)

)

Docket No. 86-22

MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION )

_______________________________________)

OPINION AND RECOMMENDED RULING, FINDINGS OF

FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION OF

Administrative LAW JUDGE.

FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge

DATED: SEP 6 1988

FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge

……………………

Part VIII.

ACCEPTED SAFETY FOR USE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION

With respect to whether or not there is “a lack of accepted safety

for use of [marijuana] under medical supervision”, the record shows the

following facts to be uncontroverted.

Findings of Fact

Point 3. The most obvious concern when dealing with drug

safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug

cause death?

4. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal

effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no

record in the extensive medical literature describing a

proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.

5. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on

marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience.

Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of

people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from

twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit

illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct

medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use

and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers,

there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest

that consuming marijuana has caused a single death.

6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter

medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.

7. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is

called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage

fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as

a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers

have attempted to determine marijuana’s LD-50 rating in

test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers

have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce

death.

8. At present it is estimated that marijuana’s LD-50 is

around

1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in

order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to

consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is

contained in onemarijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied

marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker

would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of

marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal

response.

9. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal

response as a result of drug-related toxicity.

10. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is

called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the

difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a

dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects.

11. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin

has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are

the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this

dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some

patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to

the digestive system, including extensive internal

bleeding.

12. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly

around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive

drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients

use ten times the recommended (therapeutic) dose.

13. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have

much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to

treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis

are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the

drugs used in antineoplastic therapies, for example, are

regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios

that may fall below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low

LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal

reactions, while being properly employed.

14. By contrast, marijuana’s therapeutic ratio, like its

LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high.

15. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than

many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw

potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it

is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce

death.

16. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest

therapeutically active substances known to man. By any

measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used

within a supervised routine of medical care.”