The young men both had traces of THC in their bodies at the time of death

Aug 5, 2014 19:05 GMT  ·  By
Case report says that marijuana is to blame for the death of two young men in Germany
   Case report says that marijuana is to blame for the death of two young men in Germany

Several investigations have shown that marijuana can help keep the symptoms associated with various medical conditions under control. Still, it looks like this weed can sometimes prove harmful.

Thus, a case report in the journal Forensic Science International argues that, according to evidence at hand, marijuana might have caused the recent death of two young men in Germany.

As detailed by Live Science, one of these two men was just 23 years old when he passed away after collapsing while on the street. The other was just 28 years old when he died seemingly out of the blue while at home.

Investigations carried out following these two men's deaths revealed that, when they collapsed, both had traces of THC in their bodies. For those unaware, THC is the active ingredient in cannabis.

Even though the 28-year-old man was known to have also abused alcohol and other drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine in his younger years, specialists suspect that it was the THC that eventually got to him.

Specifically, it is believed that these two deaths were caused by cardiovascular issues brought about by marijuana use over an extended period of time. Still, it's important to note that the two men might have been more vulnerable to such episodes to begin with.

“After exclusion of other causes of death, we assume that the young men died from cardiovascular complications evoked by smoking,” the case report in the journal Forensic Science International reads.

“We assume the deaths of these two young men occurred due to arrhythmias evoked by smoking cannabis,” the specialists linking the death of these young men to marijuana use go on to say.

Interestingly enough, there are some researchers who disagree with them, and who argue that it was not cannabis itself that killed the two men, but an unfortunate combination of factors having to do with the circumstances of use.