USA - Coroner claims weed trigged this guys seizure, killing him months after he quit weed

[chillinwill]

A coroner has condemned claims that smoking cannabis is 'harmless' after hearing how it triggered the death of a teenager who had given up smoking the drug.

Cheshire deputy coroner Geoff Roberts said it was a misconception to think cannabis was safe to use after it directly led to the death of teenager Adie Gardner.

The 17-year-old suffered a fatal seizure in front of his father in October last year just months after quitting cannabis to take up his first ever job.

Doctors who examined the the trainee chef's body confirmed Adie had not taken cannabis in the run up to his death.
But the coroner heard how his body had been ravaged so badly by the effects of his past misuse that it killed him.

An inquest in Macclesfield, Cheshire, was told Adie had fallen victim to a 'legacy' of using the drug in the past .
Mr Roberts said: 'People use cannabis and think it is a harmless property. But we have heard clear evidence in this case that it is not.

'Very sadly this young man died as a result of the direct toxic effects on the heart that the use of cannabis had, as such it was an avoidable death.'
Mr Roberts ruled Adie's death was caused as a result of using drugs.
The coroner added the teenager had used cannabis over a period of time and that his death was all the more tragic as he had given up the drug and was turning his life around.

'This is a very sad case because despite his turbulent past and cannabis use, he had got a job as a trainee chef,' the coroner said.

'The post mortem showed no findings of recent drug use. But his body was left with a legacy of using cannabis in the past which directly led to his death.'

Adie, whose real name was Hadrian, led a 'turbulent' life taking drugs and was expelled from the former 1,000 puil Henbury High comprehensive school, the coroner was told.

The teenager had suffered a heart attack the year before his death, but had vowed to turn his life round after being offered a place on a scheme run by Cheshire Fire Service aimed at 'hard to reach' youngsters.

He visited fire stations and learned how to be good citizen before taking a 'big step forward' in taking a job as a trainee chef at Prestbury Village Restaurant.

He died in October last year on only his second day at work.

Adie's father, Robert Gardner, told the inquest he was waiting to pick his son up from the Village Restaurant when his son began to fit.

He told the hearing: 'He came out of the restaurant, crossed the triangular piece of grass and then stumbled and fell on the pavement.

'It was a bit surreal. He fitted for about ten seconds.'

Paramedics rushed to the scene but battled in vain to save him and he was later pronounced dead at Macclesfield Hospital.

Dr Mark Nicol, who treated the teenager at Macclesfield A&E, said in his report that the case was 'unique' as he had been admitted to A&E in 2007 after suffering a heart attack. On that occasion, doctors were able to revive him.

Dr Nicol said, 'Drug problems were acknowledged at that time. This case highlights that Cannabis is potentially life threatening.

Dr Sally Hales, who carried out the post mortem, said in her report to the coroner that there were no traces of cannabis or other illegal drugs in Adie's body when he died.

Dr Hales examined the heart and concluded the teenager had myocarditis - an inflammation of the heart.

She said 'a history of using cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine would appear to be the most likely cause' of the teenager's death.

After the inquest, Adie's former boss at the Prestbury Village Restaurant paid tribute to the youngster.

Manager Rick Palmer said: 'He was a nice lad who worked hard. He was reliable, no trouble and good to work with. His death was a total shock to us all.'

July 1, 2009
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...fatal-fit.html

[b3ni]

I seen this in the paper this morning, and assumed it was a completely shameless lie.

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

So he used amphetamines and cocaine and yet cannabis is blamed in the headline...?

The daily mail is more carcinogenic than cannabis- I can feel tumors growing in my brain when I read it.

[b3ni]

The version published in The Metro didn't even mention the cocaine and amphetamine.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thank you for this extra bit of relevant information

[SullyGuy]

Originally Posted by b3ni

The version published in The Metro didn't even mention the cocaine and amphetamine.

Good to hear reporters are out on the front lines getting the whole story!

[sky_man]

Originally Posted by Article

The teenager had suffered a heart attack the year before his death

I'm sure that had absolutely nothing to do with the heart problem that led to his death. No sir, not at all. Couldn't possibly be that. No way. No sirree, has to be the weed. Definitely the weed.

[porchy]

You have got to be joking...Toxic? I almost cant believe that this was published. It is also very sad. Such a young life lost.

[cannabis-sam]

Ok let me get this right. The guy hadn't used cannabis for months, but had previously abused amphetamine and cocaine, plus other drugs aswell most likely. So we can say that the stress to the heart caused by drug abuse in general not just cannabis could have contributed to his death. This type of reporting seems absurd I can't even comprehend how someone half literate could actually write this.

I could see that the smoking of cannabis could lead to problems with the arteries much like tobacco smoke does. It also appears the kid had a week heart. An aquaintance of mine lost his life from the same heart problem as stated in the article, he never smoked, never drank, and never took drugs, however he did go running everyday now shall we blame excercise for causing my aquaintances death. The point is it can happen to anyone and the link between his cannabis use and his death are weak at most. There were probably many contributing factors but cannabis seems to be something the media likes to blame everything from psychotic killers to the obiesety problem.

When did journalists lose their integrity?

[sky_man]

Originally Posted by cannabis-sam

Ok let me get this right. The guy hadn't used cannabis for months, but had previously abused amphetamine and cocaine, plus other drugs aswell most likely. So we can say that the stress to the heart caused by drug abuse in general not just cannabis could have contributed to his death. This type of reporting seems absurd I can't even comprehend how someone half literate could actually write this.

I could see that the smoking of cannabis could lead to problems with the arteries much like tobacco smoke does. It also appears the kid had a week heart. An aquaintance of mine lost his life from the same heart problem as stated in the article, he never smoked, never drank, and never took drugs, however he did go running everyday now shall we blame excercise for causing my aquaintances death. The point is it can happen to anyone and the link between his cannabis use and his death are weak at most. There were probably many contributing factors but cannabis seems to be something the media likes to blame everything from psychotic killers to the obiesety problem.

When did journalists lose their integrity?

Well, I'd say the exercise was a contributing factor. If you've got a weak heart and put strain on it, obviously you're at risk. However, it would be stupid to blame exercise as his cause of death, obviously it's his weak heart that's the problem. He could have applied just as much strain on it during sex and died, but we're hardly going to blame sex as the cause of death.

Journalists are more bothered about scare-mongering these days, just look at the current Swine Flu outbreak. We keep hearing about people 'dying from Swine Flu' but in reality, they died from other health issues, the swine flu is just a contributing factor. Of course, saying "girl dies from epilieptic fit, also had swine flu" doesn't sell as many papers as "9 year old dies from swine flu"

[Nature Boy]

Preposterous claims. This might be the most far-fetched piece of propaganda I've seen yet. It rates up there with the "cannabis killer" who suddenly felt compelled to knife two kids (despite not even being high at the time). The Daily Mail isn't worthy of soaking up cat-piss.

[elpatto]

Yea I don't think anyone really beleives that kinda shit, I honestly think you would be hard pressed to find someone that honestly beleives that smoking weed could be the "direct" cause of death.

You would have to think they have shot almost every shell they had outa the propaganda-cannon but it seems not. I wonder if this will actually count for a statistic for weed-death, has there even been any kind of reported weed death ever before? Not talking about some jerk getting really baked then driving of a bridge I mean like overdose or something like a allergy or severe reaction.

Surely if you could kill yourself by smoking the green my pet rhino would have been close by now