Due to the recent legalization of Marijuana in some states, we are now beginning to see the first trickle of fear mongering “news articles” ranging from internet blogs to Fox News. All of the propaganda regarding Marijuana has entirely abandoned the Scientific Method in a last ditch effort to force people into believing the hysteria that smoking weed can kill you. I like to imagine that the prohibitionists are stooping to this level because we are seriously scaring them with the mass numbers of pot smokers converging together for nationwide acceptance and legalization.
Now yes, smoking weed does increase your heart rate but no more so than a coffee or energy drink. So, if you have prior heart conditions, a red bull and then rip a bong you may experience some adverse side effects and we should expect to see many reports of people having THC in their system when they died. This does not mean that weed kills. Simple chance will have this occur over and over again.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported in 2012 that approximately 7,600,000 people over the age of 12 smoked marijuana daily or nearly daily and the Center for Disease Control estimates that 715,000 people have a heart attack yearly. With these statistics we can expect around 20,000 people to have smoked weed the same day they experience a heart attack. Not related, just chance.
The astronomical benefits of the legalization of Marijuana both medically and economically far outweigh any adverse effects of smoking weed. There are no death rates for marijuana no matter what is reported. There are always underlying factors, chance and/or other drug use that causes the deadly reaction. Maybe weed is even prolonging life for all of those who do have conditions and continue to smoke without having a heart attack. That will never be studied if marijuana is continued to be treated as a criminal act. If we legalize it, maybe just maybe, we will find out the truth behind pot.