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 5. This is a remarkable statement° First, the record on marijuana
 encompasses 5,000 years of human experience, Second, marijuana is now used
 daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest
 that from twenty million to fifty million Amerlcans routinely, aibeit illegally,
 smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision.. Yet, despite
 this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers,
 there are slmply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana
 has caused a single deaths
 6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine,
 causes hundreds of deaths each year,
 C
 7. Drugs used !n _dicine are routlne]y given what is called an
 LD-50. The LD=50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test anlmals
 r_ce'iving a drugowil] rile as a result of drug induced toxicii:y, A number-of :
 researchers have attempted to determine _rijuana_s LD=50 ratIng in test animals _,
 without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable 'to give animals
 enough marijuana to induce death_
 8, At present it is estimated that _rijuana's LD=50 is around_:
 1:20_000 or 1:40,000. In layman tams thls means that _n order to induce
 death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much
 _rljuana as is contained In one marijuana cigarette, NIDA-supplied marijuana
 clgare_ce_:-wel_h _approxf_tel3T .g grams. A smoker _uTd, theoce,t;Ic_ilyT h_v_: t_.:
 consu_ nearly 1,500 pounds of _arijuan_ within abduct fifteen _inutes to induce
 ....... a lethal response.
 g, In practical ter_, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a
 result of drug-related toxicity_




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