By the same tokin'

Re: "Bogus pot claim," (BP, June 17).

First off, let me say that I support the decriminalisation of marijuana use in Thailand.

But once again, Eric Baht asks us to accept his word as gospel when even superficial research proves otherwise. He writes: "I doubt there is any medical journal in the world that has documented a single case of someone who died from a marijuana overdose."

Writing in a paper published by the American Addiction Centers on 19 April, 2022, Kenneth Anderson wrote: "It seems that not a day goes by that I do not see some post on social media claiming that there has never been a death due to marijuana overdose. There's just one problem with this: it simply isn't true. In fact, spreading this myth is quite dangerous because it could well encourage someone to ingest a fatal dose of marijuana in the false belief that there is no such thing as marijuana poisoning. The truth is that although marijuana is one of the safest drugs around, far safer than opioids, alcohol, Tylenol, or antidepressants, it is still toxic when the dose is large enough."

The paper publishes a chart titled "Poisoning deaths due to cannabis alone US 1999-2014", which reports 22 deaths in 2012, 18 in 2013 and 18 in 2014.

But you do not need to overdose on marijuana for it to be a factor in death and there are numerous cases documented in reliable medical journals.

To quote just one of many:

The Senior Medical Officer at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Dr Liliana Bachs, wrote in an article titled "Acute Cardiovascular Fatalities Following Cannabis Use", published by Forensic Science International in 2001: "In this paper we report six cases where recent cannabis intake was associated with sudden and unexpected death. An acute cardiovascular event was the probable cause of death."

And you do not need to be a medical expert to know that marijuana use can result in a decline in several core skills required for safe driving and many other pursuits and pastimes, which can lead to not only the death of the user, but to others affected by their use.

As I said, I support the decriminalisation of marijuana use, but let its users know the facts and not be deluded by Eric's falsehoods.

David Brown

Law unto himself

Re: "PM urges demonstrators to obey the law," (BP, June 14).

I fully agree with PM Prayut that protests, such as the anti-government ones now taking place, must be peaceful.

However, I note that it's rather rich for him to tell the youths to "obey the law" when Prayut himself led the coup d'etat that overthrew the freely elected government of the time.

If you want people to listen, Prayut, lead by example.

Burin Kantabutra

State irreligion

Re: "Respect the robe," (ThinkBox, June 13).

Patcharawalai Sanyanusin is doubtless sincere in that perfect faith she has in Thailand's National Office of Buddhism (NOB). The problem is that the very existence of such an state institution as a the NOB betrays the true nature of the religion known as Thai Buddhism: it is not Buddhism, but Thai Buddhism.

A religion that operates under the auspices of politicians to serve political purposes, as Thai Buddhism always has in exchange for grand temples and other gorgeous gifts, constitutes itself as a political tool wielded for political purposes by political players. Indeed, Thai Buddhism is openly touted as a "pillar of the nation"; as a claim, nothing could be more explicitly political. No less political are those who most sedulously push that un-Buddhist "pillar of the nation" narrative about the religion.

If Buddhism in Thailand wishes to be respected as a religion that teaches and practises spiritual principles of worth, it needs to free itself from the tradition going back many generations of loyally serving political players who find it a most useful tool for achieving their purposes, which too often have nothing to do with the Buddha's wisdom. Are the gilded temples luring in tourists worth the spiritual cost?

Felix Qui
18 Jun 2022 18 Jun 2022
20 Jun 2022 20 Jun 2022

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