Marijuana, Safer Than Painkillers — STUDY

[Shola Sholaz]

BELIEVE it or not, but you could be safer ingesting marijuana -the most used illegal drug on Earth – than a prescription pain killer drug. Findings by a brand new first-of-its-kind global study conducted at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, USA, showed that prescription pain killers, though legal, could be the deadliest drug of all.
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A publication in The Lancet, revealed that marijuana, though often preferred to other illicit drugs of addiction such as  cocaine, heroin and amphetamines are responsible for killing fewer persons than addictive painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodinbe.
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Of a total of 78,000 drug deaths, prescription pain pills accounted for more than half. The study does not mention why marijuana has become the most popular drug, controversy over the. legalisation of cannabis in some US states rages on.
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While marijuana use is still illegal according to federal law, the new global report found that men in their 20s were most likely to abuse any of the drugs studied. Drugs such as Ecstasy and other hallucinogens were not included due to a lack of data.
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The study also found that Australia, Russia, the UK and the US were the hardest hit by substance abuse.
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Those living in these areas were also more likely to use the drugs which originated closer to home.
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For instance, persons living in Asia or Australia were more inclined to abuse amphetamines and opioids whereas North Americans used more marijuana and cocaine.