Marijuana is a Deadly Substance

So says the Herald Democrat from Oklahoma. Normally I would have posted this in the What not to do section, but the final sentence of this article made me instead want to rant about this sorry excuse for a newspaper. Ken Studer, the offending reporter, needs to check some facts. The article talks of a drug dealer who stole a Wii then returned the Wii along with a bag of marijuana as an apology for stealing it, then stole the Wii back the next day. Now that’s a wacky enough story to warrant mention in my blog, but add to it that when listing the charges against the dealer the Democrat says that he was charged with delivery of a controlled deadly substance.

Marijuana is NOT a deadly substance. Sure it is controlled, but it most certainly is not deadly. It is a Class II Controlled Substance in the US. No one has ever died of marijuana use, which I think is the qualifying factor in labeling something a deadly substance. The term deadly usually indicates that use of said substance will cause death. You can smoke marijuana until you are blue in the face, you aren’t going to die of it, at least it has never happened in history. I certainly don’t recommend trying it.