Despite what some large national media publications may lead you to believe, not naming any names (Sydney Morning Herald), cannabis is a relatively safe drug compared to other, sometimes legal (and often prescribed) drugs in Australia.
The findings come after data compiled by the ABS was analysed by the Drug Trends at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW in late 2019.
Covering 21 years, from 1997 to 2018, it’s one of the longest, and most recent insights into drug induced deaths in Australia.
Drugs compared in their analysis included:
- Alcohol
- Amphetamines
- Antidepressants
- Anti-Epileptic, Sedative-Hypnotic, and Anti-Parkinsonism (grouped together)
- Anti-Psychotics and Neuroleptics (grouped together)
- Cannabinoids (CBD)
- Cocaine
- Non-Opioid Analgesics (paracetamol and others), and
- Opioids
Of that list, CBD came in second last. Meaning seven of the other drugs on that list caused more deaths per year in Australia than CBD.
Keep in mind the drugs aren’t mutually exclusive. From the report:
The following findings relate to drugs identified in toxicology reports as being present in the person’s system and deemed to be contributory to that death. There may be multiple drugs that contribute to a drug-induced death.
So, if someone’s death was deemed to be caused by opioids and they had a minute amount of CBD in their system, CBD would likely be added as contributing to their death. The same goes the other way around.
Drug | Deaths (2018) |
---|---|
Opioids | 1129 |
Anti-Epileptic, Sedative-Hypnotic, and Anti-Parkinsonism | 990 |
Antidepressants | 574 |
Amphetamines | 407 |
Anti-Psychotics and Neuroleptics | 371 |
Alcohol | 337 |
Non-Opioid Analgesics | 315 |
Cannabinoids | 264 |
Cocaine | 57 |
Alcohol deaths seem a little low, don’t they? That’s because they are. These figures only represent if the person has died with the drug in their system – it doesn’t consider deaths relating to conditions resulting from that drug.
If we include deaths from alcohol-attributable causes, alcohol deaths grow to more than 6,000 per year.
Sure, in Australia, more people currently drink alcohol than use cannabis, but it’s only about four times as much (sources here and here).
Australia has banned cannabis since 1926. And according to this book, Drug Prohibition: A Call for Change by Alex Wodak and Ron Owens, no one really knows why.
Australia banned cannabis in 1926 following an international meeting in 1925. New South Wales banned cannabis in 1927, although records show that authorities could not see any particular reason to ban the drug – nobody was using it. But as the Commonwealth had already banned the drug, New South Wales decided to follow Canberra’s example.
Maybe the Australian politicians are waiting to the 100-year anniversary in 2026 to legalise the drug once more, as they are documented reasons to do so, sooner rather than later. That’d be one party to remember.
You can read the full report here.