The Truth About Marijuana Overdose
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You probably have no risk of experiencing a fatal marijuana overdose, but the absence of a fatal risk does not mean that symptoms marijuana overdose is not possible. It is important to understand: it is physically impossible to experience a fatal overdose on marijuana. Science has proven that it would take smoking about fifteen pounds of marijuana in fifteen minutes or less to induce something like a fatal overdose. It isn’t possible. What is possible, however, is experiencing the effects of marijuana negatively.
Too much marijuana can create feelings of extreme paranoia, fear, and anxiety. It can cause respiratory and cardiac problems, gastric distress, disorientation and hallucinations, and dilated pupils. A person who has ingested too much marijuana is also less likely to exercise good judgment, and that lack of judgment can lead him to take dangerous risks that can prove to be fatal. Street-level marijuana is occasionally blended with other substances, including hallucinogens, that further increase this risk. Society may be trending toward accepting marijuana use, but that acceptance should not be interpreted as an imprimatur on the safety of marijuana.
An individual who has been diagnosed with a THC overdose will typically be kept under medical observation until the effects of the drug dissipate, primarily to keep him from injuring himself or others. A doctor might administer intravenous fluids or prescribe an anti-anxiety medication to alleviate any paranoia or hallucinations. He might also recommend sedatives to counteract rapid pulse or heart beat fluctuations.
The fact remains that marijuana and its active ingredient, THC, have psychoactive effects that can overwhelm or alter a person’s thought processes and metabolism in ways that can be harmful, both in the short term and over longer periods of time.
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