How come certain drugs can directly kill a person, but marijuana doesn’t kill?
In: Chemistry
Marijuana doesn’t directly interfere with the parts of your body chemistry that keep you alive. It isn’t physically possible to reach the lethal dose of marijuana, which is estimated at several thousand pounds in an hour.
Conversely, opioids activate opioid receptors in your brain stem, these receptors shut down your brain stem. This cuts off pain signals, but also things like consciousness and breathing if the receptors stay on too long and too strong.
Another way some classes of drugs can kill somebody is through a lethal withdrawal. Alcohol and barbituate addiction can alter your body chemistry enough that your body is quite literally dependent on that drug to stay alive. If severe addicts quit those kinds of drugs cold turkey, there can some times be lethal effects. Opioids give a nasty withdrawal, but the withdrawal it self is not known to kill people. Opioid deaths are generally overdoses or choking
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