The reason they say it is the "cause of ER visits" is simply twisting the fact that when a patient comes to the ER, we ask about any recreational drug use, and most people are honest- a lot of people say pot, but that is NOT their main reason, or ANY reason why they're coming in for treatment. In fact, most people coming in from overdosing do so because of alcohol poisoning. Cocaine is a distant second, and then heroin. I, nor any of the people in my family- some of whom have worked in big city hospitals, have NEVER seen a patient in the ER from pot overdose. And these are people who don't smoke pot- but they support it.

Stoners aren't the ones coming in and faking pain to get opiates- those people claim they don't do drugs.

Reminds me of a patient we once had, in a small local hospital- it was an old farmer who broke his leg- I asked him if he had ever taken any drugs recently; he hesitated, and then said "No, but does it count if I grow it? I have a large farm, and teenagers pay me to secretly grow, really nice kids, but I don't smoke it."

I wanted to HUG THAT MAN. I did