It’s impossible to overdose on weed

Question

A lot of people say it is impossible to overdose on weed but that’s not totally true. It is true that no one has ever died directly from a weed overdose. Unlike other drugs like opioids or alcohol, weed doesn’t exactly have the symptoms of delayed breathing or heart rate that kills. But it doesn’t mean you still can take too much of a dosage. When people over do it with weed, especially when it comes to edibles or strong concentrates, it can cause really bad reactions. Some reactions cause include panic attacks, paranoia, throwing up, or even feeling like you’re losing control. Doctors usually call it “cannabis toxicity’. It is not deadly but it’s also not fun in any way. 

The claim makes it sound like weed is totally safe no matter how much you use, and that’s where it gets misleading. Even though it won’t kill you necessarily to much wee can still make you really sick or even mess with your mental state for hours. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) has stated that there have been no recorded deaths from marijuana overdose, but the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)  warns that using large amounts of marijuana can still cause serious physical and mental side effects. A study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, also found that deaths linked directly to cannabis alone are extremely rare. This confirms while weed overdose deaths almost never happen, the negative effects from heavy use are in fact very real. So yeah you probably won’t die from weed, but it is not something you can just take unlimited amount of without side effects/consequences.

Answer 1

The Claim that “ It’s impossible to overdose on weed” is partially true.  

The definition of an overdose according to American Addiction Centers is “An overdose can occur after someone consumes a toxic level of a substance (or multiple substances) and the effects of this interfere with their brain and body’s ability to function properly.1 Drug overdose can be fatal; however, when it isn’t, overdose-related toxicity can result in several negative short-term and long-term health consequences.” So though it typically refers to a fatal amount, it can also mean a toxic amount with consequences. So though according to Castle Craig, “It is impossible to fatally overdose on cannabis, yet it is possible to consume too much and experience a wide range of adverse and sometimes serious medical problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack and psychological distress.” It would mean that this claim is partially true. Because you may not overdose and die from cannabis, but you may have toxic related health consequences which in itself is overdosing.

Sources:

https://www.castlecraig.co.uk/addiction-resources/can-you-overdose-on-cannabis/

https://americanaddictioncenters.org/overdose

Answer 2

The claim that it is impossible to overdose on weed is false. It is not common to overdose on weed, so many people think that it isn't possible, but it still is. The symptoms of overdosing from weed can include things like extreme anxiety, high blood pressure, and pale skin color (Oklahoma, State Department of Health, 2025).

Not only can you overdose on weed, but even if you don't overdose there can be serious side effects that are both mental and physical (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). It can negatively affect your brain health, heart health, and lung health. So even though it is rare to overdose on weed, it is still possible, and even if you don't overdose on it you can still be negatively impacted by it. 

https://oklahoma.gov/health/health-education/injury-prevention-service/drug-overdose/marijuana.html

https://www.cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects/index.html

Answer 3

Reports of “cannabis poisoning” events, intoxication, and hospital emergency visits have been recorded at higher rates. According to recovery.com, edibles and high‑THC products are linked with increased risk of adverse effects. Though it is that THC is not fatal, when overconsumed.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention article on cannabis poisoning says that accidental over‑consumption (mostly from edibles) can lead to serious effects and require emergency care, especially in adolescent age, but that cannabis poisoning is “not generally known to be fatal.” However, there could be potential bias as the Government of Canada was included in the research, the use of marijuana there could be higher as it is legal compared to the U.S.

It's safe to say that the DEA’s statement, “No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported,” suggests that the chance is very minimal and definitely lower compared to other common drug overdoses, but it is not impossible.

Research found in Medscape lists signs of acute cannabis toxicity (confusion, hallucinations, agitation, cardiovascular effects), which may seem more dramatic than they are, but they differ from actual “over‑consumption”. 

Death from "weed" or specifically THC overdose is rather undocumented, but it is possible to overdose.

 

Answer 4

The claim that you can not overdose on weed is false. Overdose is commonly correlated with fatality, but that is not what an overdose actually is. The claim suggests that no matter how much weed you consume, there will be no overdose, but that is what makes it misleading. According to the National Library of Medicine, the definition of an overdose is the “use of any drug in such an amount that acute adverse physical or mental effects are produced”. The effects that a weed overdose produces are not fatal, but they still fall into the definition of an overdose.

Weed affects your brain, heart, lungs, and mental health, with too much resulting in a nonfatal overdose. According to Cannabis and Public Health, “Children who consume THC-containing products can become very sick”. There have been no deaths correlated with the overuse of weed, but people who consume too much weed can suffer from physical and mental health effects, otherwise known as an overdose of a substance.

Answer 5

After researching through multiple reputable sources this claim proves to be false.  As reported by DrugAbuse.com there are multiple different symptoms and ways that you can overdose on marijuana.  The CDC warns about the effects of overconsumption and the negative symptoms that go along with doing so.  According to Compassion Behavioral Health "a marijuana overdose is not fatal" although they go on to list effects that could lead to a fatality from the side effects of an overdose on marijuana.  The claim that weed is not safe to take at any amount is true, as previously mentioned overconsumption will cause many negative side effects and potentially an overdose.

Conclusion: The claim that it is impossible to overdose on weed is not true, it is very much possible and a danger of consuming too much.

Answer 6

The overall statement posted by the commenter is right however the headline for this news detective is wrong. It is not impossible to overdose on weed. From my overall findings, no credible peer reviewed source found that you can “overdose” on marijuana at least in the same way people overdose on other opioids like cocaine, heroin etc due to cannabis not affecting functions of the body such as heart rate and breathing.  

When researching sources such as the United States Drug Enforcement Administration that the original poster gave as their sources I found that they are an overall credible source and that it is true they have found no reported deaths caused by overdose on majiguana.However this does not mean it has never happened as the DEA gets most of their statistics from hospitals and some deaths that may have happened due to cannabis might have not been reported as so.

 

However while I did my own research I found this pubmed journal posted in 2022 that found that “Risk of death due to cannabis toxicity is negligible. However, cannabis can prove fatal in circumstances with risk of traumatic physical injury, or in individuals with cardiac pathophysiologies.”  This statement from the study shows that despite being extremely uncommon and actually quite hard to do, it is not physically impossible to die or overdose from cannabis. However this journal could have basis such as researchers looking for cases where other factors could have been involved or insufficient evidence on their part of these deaths. 

Along with this it  has been found that people can die of weed or cannabis just in extremely large amounts according to this Pubmed article weed has been found to kill people in the past but in very small groups and has not been studied due to the amount of weed needed to be ingested to cause harm to the body. 

However this source could have been not conducted under the right circumstances, however is still a trustworthy and primary source according to my findings. 

Overall I believe all my sources support my argument that you can technically overdose on weed but rather than it being like opioids it is not what we traditionally think when we think of overdose, and is extremely uncommon. If I had to say any of my sources undermine my claim it would be from the DEA as they have no recorded overdoses from weed but I believe this would be due to how few people experienced this along with the fact most people consuming large amounts of cannabis are doing other substances that may appear to be the causer of the overdose.

I tried contacting the commenter of this post and they have not gotten back to me and overall I agree with them however I would like for them to change the title of their post to better reflect what their information truly said.

Answer 7

This claim is not true, but also not false. No one has passed away from taking too much weed, but it doesn't mean people haven't gotten seriously injured from taking too much weed. I found the Drug Fact Sheet from the DEA which had a section of overdose effects. In that section it was claimed that nobody has passed away from taking too much weed, but the number of emergency room visits has increased due to taking strong foods that contain a high amount of weed. Along with that, a section from the book The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research claimed as well that while no one has passed, it's not impossible to severely injury the brain and body from taking so much weed. So yes, no one has passed away, but no one should attempt to take so much weed it does cause severe injuries leading to death. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425742/

https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/Marijuana-Cannabis-Drug-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Answer 8

Although it’s not common, overdosing on weed is still possible in its own way. In 2020, Eloise Theisen wrote and medically reviewed an article on cannabis overdose, where she explained that while no one has ever died from a weed overdose, it’s still possible to take too much. The claim that “you can’t overdose on weed” is true in the sense that it’s not deadly, but it can still have serious effects on your mental and physical health. Weed overdoses look very different from opioid overdoses because, although it hasn’t killed anyone, people can still experience bad “trip outs,” anxiety, or even psychosis from overuse. According to the DEA, there have been no recorded deaths from cannabis, but there are major warning signs that it can cause serious mental side effects. Since everyone’s body reacts differently to cannabis, it’s hard to say exactly how much is “too much,” but signs of a cannabis overdose can include paranoia, increased heart rate, seizures, pale skin, high blood pressure, migraines, and unresponsiveness.

Cites:

https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/marijuana
https://www.healthline.com/health/can-you-overdose-on-marijuana#bad-reaction-signs
https://drugabuse.com/drugs/marijuana/overdose/

Answer 9

This claim is false. We may think of overdose as heart stopping or death. However, overdose by definition is "an excessive and dangerous dose of a drug," According to Oxford Languages. A person can ingest a dangerous amount of cannabis. 

The US Drug Enforcement Administration reports that there have been no deaths in relation to cannabis, but there has been a rise in emergency visits. Meaning people have had complications or ingested too much to the extent that they require medical attention. Overdosing on cannabis has been found as more rare than other drugs said by Drug Abuse. They also listed the signs and symptoms of cannabis including: extreme anxiety attacks, psychotic reactions, pale skin, heart attack, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, unresponsiveness, uncontrollable shaking, decreased judgement, uncoordinated, and bad perception. Looking at the symptoms involving the heart and blood it seems awfully similar to other drug overdose symptoms. 

The higher the THC level used when ingesting marijuana puts a person more at risk for overdose (Master Center). Using lots of it within a short period of time can also influence the presence of an overdose. You may have heard the term, "greening out" it has been used to describe when a person feels ill from the high amount of cannabis ingested. This is just another term used for overdosing on cannabis. "Greening out" came from "blacking out" which is used when someone is overdosing on alcohol. 

In conclusion the idea that one cannot overdose on cannabis is false and dangerous. The numbers from overdose may show that there have been no deaths found from marijuana alone. Those numbers do not mean that overdosing on cannabis is impossible.