How many deaths are caused by Marijuana?

Many people question - has marijuana directly caused any deaths?

A snippet of the table (below) shows the number of deaths from 17 FDA-approved drugs as the primary suspect of death surpasses 10,000, while Marijuana is 0.

Info tracked from 1997 to 2005
*Source: Procon.org - an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit public charity. 
Website for data: medicalmarijuana.procon.org


Total deaths reported from 1997 to 2005:

Marijuana: 0
17 FDA-Approved drugs: 10,008  (including Viagara, Lithium, Ritalin, Vioxx)


Well known fact: The FDA still deems marijuana illegal.

So, in 8 years 10,000+ people die from FDA approved drugs, yet marijuana remains against the law. Great job, FDA. 

From the 2011 Documentary "A NORML Life" directed by Rod Pitman:

"Well it turns out that it probably is a very basic part of our physiology. Not only do we have the endocannabanoids, or natural cannabinoids, but Dr. Mechoulam's research group also found that we have cannabinoid receptors. So we have--CB1 receptors, CB2 receptors, for where they are in the body. 

An example of one of the importances of this research is they discovered why massive doses of cannabis has never killed anybody. There's not been one recorded death...it turns out that we don't have any cannabinoid receptors in the medulla oblongata. That's the part of the brain that controls respiration and heart rate.

So massive doses of many other drugs (heroin, meth), or even not so massive doses, cause respiratory depression, cardiac suppression, and death. Massive amounts of marijuana might make people fall asleep, but it doesn't cause them to stop breathing or stop their heart rate."



The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 2003 article "Mortality Date from the Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2001" states:

"Marijuana is rarely the only involved in a drug abuse death. Thus...the proportion of marijuana-induced cases labeled as 'one drug' (i.e., marijuana only) will be zero or nearly zero."