Nobody describes booze that way, but it is just another form of weak poison. Drink too much and you die from blood toxicity. Weed OTOH, you can only get so high (there is a point to where smoking more doesn't do anything if you are baked). You can never overdose on weed...you can ALWAYS overdose on alcohol.

Sorry, pressed for time those are just some quickies. Someone with the medical sources will have to come along and give you more.

Edibles should never be used by neophytes who don't know enough to keep junk food around for the inevitable case of the munchies. They end up eating more of the edible cannabis and can run into some real trouble for about 8 hours--racing heartbeat, paranoia, free floating anxiety bordering on panic. Once the drug wears off, they're no worse for wear.

While the reaction is occurring, it is extremely unpleasant.

Yes the dreaded pot brownie syndrome.

so they might be the equivalent of eating half an ounce or so if you ate the whole thing.

Too much of anything is fatal, even water. There have, however, been no deaths attributable to too much edible cannabis, not yet, unlike water.

The only way I did edibles was to smoke it first to assess its strength. Then it went into Italian food or brownies back in the day, something fatty. No one ever had a bad reaction because it was weak enough to make it impossible. Not so the candies and cookies out there.

I've been a pothead for 40 years.

How many people die every year of alcohol poisioning?

...which showed that cannabis is the least harmful substance commonly used by people.

And when I say "the least harmful," I mean by a huge margin, compared to everything else.

Alcohol and tobacco were the most harmful.

Here's a link: http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150130/srep08126/full/srep08126.html

thanks

It's really sad and I don't think you've got much of a chance of getting through the propaganda. After all, the DEA is authority, while those sciencey nerds are not.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/no-high-risk-marijuana-may-be-less-harmful-alcohol-tobacco-n312876

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/23/study_marijuana_is_even_less_dangerous_than_we_thought/

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/20/health/marijuana-versus-alcohol/

Here are some media "authorities," something that people whose minds are shut against science will often accept.

The results are in and cannabis is far less dangerous than alcohol by a factor of 114.

please keep it coming

and I am really surprised that a social worker, who I assume has seen a lot about people, has not seen with her own eyes that alcohol is more damaging to the health than cannabis.
Some people just see what they want to see, I guess. It is somewhat disheartening to know that someone working to help the citizens would take such a view.

I hope something comes along to help her see this. It would maybe help her to help others better.

Tell her to ask an actual doctor. no one dies from THC overdoses, people die from alcohol poisioning all the time. if marijuana causes any physical "withdrawls" they are limited to things like headaches and irritability. Alcoholi withdrawls, like alcohol, can kill.

Francis Young, DEA Adminstrative Law Judge: (1988)

“In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care"

Dr. Sam Wang is a neuroscientist. This excerpt isn't about marijuana, but it does explain how alcohol is particularly dangerous and how there is a bias in favor of it (starts at about 4:05):