Downsides of POT

[Topaz]

The state of Colorado has smoking pot legal but the emergency rooms at the hospitals have been kept very visit with smokers over doing it. Will the same thing happen in Canada if made legal? http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/emergency-room-visits-double-marijuana-using-colorado-visitors-n525081

[poochy]

It's harmless and cures everything, so i can't consider the source to be truthful.

[cybercoma]

What a silly stat. First of all it is only related to "out of state patient emergency room visits" and secondly it increase from 85 per 10000 visits to 168 per 10000. That's a marginal increase of a whopping 0.8 points.

The article then goes on to say in-state rates remained unchanged.

So what's the argument here?

[WestCoastRunner]

1 in 3 ER visits are alcohol related.

http://www.ibtimes.com/1-out-3-er-visits-are-alcohol-related-heres-what-patients-drank-charts-1395699

[bush_cheney2004]

1 in 3 ER visits are alcohol related.

http://www.ibtimes.com/1-out-3-er-visits-are-alcohol-related-heres-what-patients-drank-charts-1395699

Data is for one city...in the United States.

[WestCoastRunner]

Data is for one city...in the United States.

I doubt anyone really cares about this.

[cybercoma]

Data is for one city...in the United States.

Data in the OP is for tourists to one state...in the United States. Edited February 25, 2016 by cybercoma

[poochy]

1 in 3 ER visits are alcohol related.

http://www.ibtimes.com/1-out-3-er-visits-are-alcohol-related-heres-what-patients-drank-charts-1395699

I doubt anyone really cares about this.

It's at least as valid as ignoring the facts on one substance simply because we already have something worse to worry about.

[Wilber]

What a silly stat. First of all it is only related to "out of state patient emergency room visits" and secondly it increase from 85 per 10000 visits to 168 per 10000. That's a marginal increase of a whopping 0.8 points.

The article then goes on to say in-state rates remained unchanged.

So what's the argument here?

Not a lot in actual numbers but an increase of 85 to 165 is almost a 100% increase.

[cybercoma]

So what? An increase from 1 person to 4 is several hundred percent. It's meaningless without context. And the context is that there's no story here.

[Wilber]

So what? An increase from 1 person to 4 is several hundred percent. It's meaningless without context. And the context is that there's no story here.

It's not meaningless at all. A 0.8% increase in total visits could be a statistical error, a 100% increase for a specific cause is noteworthy. Even though the numbers may be small, a 100% increase in the occurrence of any particular disease or other cause would be a concern. The question is whether it is a glitch or a trend.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Wilber

[Wilber]

It's harmless and cures everything, so i can't consider the source to be truthful.

The only thing on the planet that is and does, don't you know.

[eyeball]

It's the most dangerous narcotic known to man.

[Wilber]

[

quote name=eyeball" post="1142662" timestamp="1456678392]

It's the most dangerous narcotic known to man.

Nonsense, it's magic.

[eyeball]

It's a fungus?

[GostHacked]

It's the most dangerous narcotic known to man.

Alcohol is more dangerous than pot. But we see often that people over do it on the first try, and we are not just talking about pot here. How many ER visits are due to prescription drug reactions or overdoses?

I used to work for an inventory company that took stock of various drug stores. I saw pure cocaine in the narcotics lock up long before I ever would have dreamed pot being prescribed. The killer thing was the 20 gram bottle of pure medical grade cocaine was about 15 bucks, mind you this was about 20 years ago.

[GostHacked]

It's a fungus?

I am sure even you can tell the difference between a plant and a fungus.

[cybercoma]

It's not meaningless at all. A 0.8% increase in total visits could be a statistical error, a 100% increase for a specific cause is noteworthy. Even though the numbers may be small, a 100% increase in the occurrence of any particular disease or other cause would be a concern. The question is whether it is a glitch or a trend.

It's 0.8 points. That is insignificant. Especially when it's a subset of people here, namely tourists. If pot itself was the problem, then you would think locals would be especially affected, no? But they're not. Edited February 28, 2016 by cybercoma

[Wilber]

It's 0.8 points. That is insignificant. Especially when it's a subset of people here, namely tourists. If pot itself was the problem, then you would think locals would be especially affected, no? But they're not.

It's 0.8 points of total admissions. If the number of cases of any type of affliction doubles, that is a reason for concern, even if it might represent a small portion of total admissions.

Are they not?

But with more sales come more problems for users. Researchers found that nearly three of 10 marijuana users manifested a marijuana use disorder in 2012-2013. Studies suggest that using marijuana and alcohol together impairs driving more than either substance alone and that alcohol use may increase the absorption of THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana.

This article just concerned people visiting Colorado.

I think legalization is inevitable but not acknowledging that pot use can have a dark side is counterproductive.

[cybercoma]

What's the dark side here, since it only showed up among tourists?

[Wilber]

What's the dark side here, since it only showed up among tourists?

The statistic only included tourists. Read the quote.

[ReeferMadness]

This is a case of half-assed research. How many of these cases are really a result of marijuana use?

Monte said some of the cases may simply involve people who mention marijuana use to the ER staff when they're in the hospital for something else. But even accounting for that, rates are up, he said.

How does he know? And why haven't the rates gone up for residents?

Rates of visits involving marijuana did not change for in-state Colorado residents, they found.

[GostHacked]

It's 0.8 points of total admissions. If the number of cases of any type of affliction doubles, that is a reason for concern, even if it might represent a small portion of total admissions.

Are they not?

This article just concerned people visiting Colorado.

I think legalization is inevitable but not acknowledging that pot use can have a dark side is counterproductive.

Tell me about the dark side of alcohol and why does it remain legal?

[eyeball]

Booze is simply righteous compared to everything else.

[cybercoma]

The statistic only included tourists. Read the quote.

That's what I said. So what's the problem here? Legalizing pot sends tourists to the ER more?