Weed Raids Kill More People Than Actual Weed, According to Data

Weed doesn't kill people, but weed raids? That's a different story.

March 21, 2017

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Complex Original

You know what's deadlier than weed? Well, almost everything. But for the sake of comparison, let's put the slandered plant up against SWAT raids involving suspected weed dealers. According to data put together by the New York Times, at least 20 such raids since 2010 have turned deadly.

A detailed analysis of the stats by the Washington Post Monday shows that the fatalities included both "small-time dealers" and those who simply sold "the occasional joint" to a pal. The full list—which counted at least 85 deadly SWAT "drug raids" since 2010—also includes four police officers who were killed during the operations.

For anyone currently reading this while enjoying some very legal and easily attainable weed in one of these awesome states, the stats probably seem insane. Death during a raid? Or even more baffling, death during a weed-related raid?

For comparison, here's the comprehensive list of people who have lost their lives due to weed:

THERE ARE NONE.

Even the Drug Enforcement Administration recognizes this, saying in a marijuana "fact sheet" that's readily available on the internet that "no death from overdose of marijuana has been reported."

These are facts. According to the mind of Jeff "Make America Alabama Again" Sessions, however, facts aren't as important as baseless hysteria. In a statement earlier this month, Sessions said legal marijuana was "only slightly less awful" than heroin. Erik Altieri, executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, promptly corrected him. "With over 600,000 arrests a year, the only thing life-wrecking about marijuana is its prohibition," Altieri said in an emailed statement to Complex.