While I expect the death rate of psychedelics/hallucinogens to be much, much lower than that of alcohol, it should be noted that the analysis you presented here doesn't really provide solid evidence that it is so.
Given that an average LSD dose is 50-150mcg and because of the "Cascade effect" nature of the drug, LSD is often not measurable in the blood even when someone is heavily under the influence. And even in the cases where it would be detectable if they tested for it, LSD is not included in coroners' postmortem tox-screens unless it is specifically suspected. Movies and TV get this wrong frequently.
Basically, I'm saying that since it isn't routinely tested for (and is often undetectable anyway) the published statistics have no reason to be accurate.
But really, how much more common (even after adjusting for frequency of overall usage) are "Hey, watch this. Hold my beer" deaths than any deaths from LSD? My estimate is "a lot."
I agree. The OP drew a conclusion, and rather than just demanding proof I wanted to point out why I didn't think it was obviously true. There would very well be other things not in my analysis that could lead the OP to that conclusion.
For example, methods besides chemical traces might determine the cause of death. Friends of the deceased might provide information about the circumstances of death, additional drugs or paraphernalia might be in the pockets of the victim, or in the immediate surroundings.
In addition, if it were true then there should be a lot more people who are injured in similar circumstances. The medical personnel at the hospital may learn some of the background context when asking for details about what happened to cause the injury.
Comments
While I expect the death rate of psychedelics/hallucinogens to be much, much lower than that of alcohol, it should be noted that the analysis you presented here doesn't really provide solid evidence that it is so.
Given that an average LSD dose is 50-150mcg and because of the "Cascade effect" nature of the drug, LSD is often not measurable in the blood even when someone is heavily under the influence. And even in the cases where it would be detectable if they tested for it, LSD is not included in coroners' postmortem tox-screens unless it is specifically suspected. Movies and TV get this wrong frequently.
Basically, I'm saying that since it isn't routinely tested for (and is often undetectable anyway) the published statistics have no reason to be accurate.
But really, how much more common (even after adjusting for frequency of overall usage) are "Hey, watch this. Hold my beer" deaths than any deaths from LSD? My estimate is "a lot."
I agree. The OP drew a conclusion, and rather than just demanding proof I wanted to point out why I didn't think it was obviously true. There would very well be other things not in my analysis that could lead the OP to that conclusion.
For example, methods besides chemical traces might determine the cause of death. Friends of the deceased might provide information about the circumstances of death, additional drugs or paraphernalia might be in the pockets of the victim, or in the immediate surroundings.
In addition, if it were true then there should be a lot more people who are injured in similar circumstances. The medical personnel at the hospital may learn some of the background context when asking for details about what happened to cause the injury.