Former White House rugrat Chelsea Clinton believes marijuana may have some therapeutic benefits, but she also thinks the herb may be killing people in states where it has been made legal.
During a recent appearance at Youngstown State University, Clinton—campaigning on behalf of her mother, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—told a crowd of students that “anecdotally, we have lots of evidence” that cannabis is effective in treating epilepsy and stimulating the appetites of those undergoing chemotherapy treatment. But she then went on to say that there are still some public health concerns associated with pot consumption due to recent deaths in Colorado.
“We also have anecdotal evidence now from Colorado where some of the people who were taking marijuana for those purposes, the coroner believes, after they died, there was drug interactions with other things they were taking,” she said.
Although there is no documented evidence that marijuana has ever contributed to the death of a single human being in the thousands of years it has been used by civilizations across the globe, prohibitionists often dig deep into their sagging bags of propaganda to convince the average citizen that the effects of cannabis can be both devastating and deadly. But this is the first we have heard of marijuana potentially interacting with other drugs and causing people to suffer their untimely demise.
A recent article on InhaleMD indicates that while there can be some minor interactions when consuming cannabis in conjunction with other medications and food, there is no evidence to suggest that these types of concoctions can result in death.
“Cannabis is not known to produce any lethal interactions with other substances, including foods and beverages,” the article reads. “In fact, as natural and synthetic drugs go, cannabis is exceptionally gentle, with negative effects typically limited to: anxiety, dry mouth, increased thirst, [and] sore throat.”
The article, which was penned by Dr. Jordan Tishler, an expert in the field of cannabis medicine, goes on to explain that while marijuana “isn’t physically harmful,” when mixing it with alcohol, antidepressants, antihistamines and muscle relaxants, the stoned effects can be often amplified—giving the user the feeling of being more intoxicated or in a deeper state of relaxation.
But it does not appear that anyone has died as a direct result of mixing marijuana with other drugs, as Clinton seems to have implied in her speech over the weekend.
Using marijuana is combination with other substances is “substantially safer than blending most other types of medications,” the article continues.
Chelsea Clinton did, however, take the opportunity to reiterate her mother’s stance on states’ rights and the pursuit of more medical marijuana research. But, her comments, once again, seemed to imply that marijuana could be what the federal government claims—a dangerous drug.
“We just need so much more data than we have so that people who might benefit have the chance to benefit, people who might be in danger are protected,” Clinton said. “So absolutely, my mom strongly supports the need for more rigorous study and then subjecting it, as we do kind of everything else that might have a medicinal purpose, to FDA approval, scrutiny and ultimately regulation.”
Hillary Clinton has said throughout the majority of her campaign that she plans to remove cannabis from its Schedule I listing if she is elected into the presidency this November.
(h/t Tom Angell/Marijuana.com)
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