The Wall

[BananaStand]

You're absolutely right......, not my brightest moment.

No worries, I had to look up what LD50 was. Found an interesting footnote:

NOTE: Comparing substances (especially drugs) to each other by LD50 can be misleading in many cases due (in part) to differences in effective dose

Also take note, the lethal dose (for 50% of the ones ingesting it) for cocaine or arsenic is a bit over 1 gram. The same for caffeine, which is completely unregulated, not considered a poison or even that harmful, that amount is a bit over 10 grams. Do you think the current legal status and attitude towards these substances is logical?

Umm, yes.

The drug that's lethal in the smaller quantity, should be considered more dangerous. That sounds totally logical to me.

In addition to that, 1 gram of cocaine is somewhat close to what a person might actually possess and use within a short time. Whereas 10 grams of caffeine is nearly impossible to ingest. There are only 63mg in a 20 oz bottle of soda. You'd have to drink almost 25 gallons of pepsi in order to overdose on caffeeine.

[CoccoBill]

Umm, yes.

The drug that's lethal in the smaller quantity, should be considered more dangerous. That sounds totally logical to me.

Exactly, and we can see proof of that here:

Substance LD50
Water 90g/kg
Alcohol 7060mg/kg
Cannabis 1000mg/kg
Methamphetamine 980mg/kg
Ibuprofen 636mg/kg
Caffeine 192mg/kg
Cocaine 96mg/kg
Vitamin D3 37mg/kg
Heroin 21mg/kg
Nicotine 6.5-13mg/kg
Sodium cyanide 6.4mg/kg

Yup, obvious to anyone that lethality is exactly why some substances are considered illegal.

In addition to that, 1 gram of cocaine is somewhat close to what a person might actually possess and use within a short time. Whereas 10 grams of caffeine is nearly impossible to ingest. There are only 63mg in a 20 oz bottle of soda. You'd have to drink almost 25 gallons of pepsi in order to overdose on caffeeine.

That's a good one. How much Coke do you need to drink to reach the LD50 of cocaine? You do know that you can buy over-the-counter caffeine pills?