My friends persist in saying that if someone is caught dealing acid, they also get charged with manslaughter. They say this is because of the potential for a lethal bad trip. However, I say that you are innocent until proven guilty and therefore you couldn’t be charged with manslaughter. I live in British Columbia, but I’m also curious if this is true in any region.
If manslaughter is defined as the causing of death by acting in such a manner as to needlessly endanger people, then a prosecution would fail as no actual death is involved. However, many jurisdictions might allow a charge of some sort of reckless endangerment of life- whic does not require an actual death to prove it.
(This despite the fact that many over the counter drugs have higher liklihoods of causing death that LSD.)
If someone does die, it’s manslaughter. If the seller knew the dangers, then the charge could be 2nd degree murder. If he intentionally gave an overdose to someone, it could be first degree. If the subject knew it was an overdose, then it could be assisted suicide.
What over-the-counter drugs have a higher chance of killing someone than LSD when taking in the correct dosages?
Cigarettes?
Since the OP lives in BC, the applicable criminal law is the Criminal Code of Canada, and I can state with reasonable confidence that no self-respecting Crown Attorny would go along with charging a dealer with manslaughter. I suspect that the consequences of dealing drugs are already taken into account in the proscribed punishment. However, as always, IANAL.
A “Crown Attorny” is a lot like a Crown Attorney.
[sub]Preview, preview, preview… sigh.[/sub]
Actually, what Pjen said was that “many over the counter drugs have higher liklihoods of causing death that LSD”, not that there are OTC drugs which have a higher likelihood of causing death if taken in the correct dosage.
The Addiction Research Foundation (now merged into the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health), who don’t seem to be a bunch of hippies or anything, note on their Facts About…LSD page that “No deaths resulting exclusively from LSD overdose have been reported”. (They do also go on to mention that “Cases of suicide, however, have occurred during or following LSD intoxication. Other results of violent or hazardous behavior include accidental (sometimes bizarre) fatalities, homicides, and self-mutilations.”)
By contrast, as Cecil notes, the toxic dose for acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) is uncomfortably close to the recommended maximum dose; four grams over a 24-hour period vs. 7 grams at once. Throw in alcohol, or eat too little, and it gets even dicier.
Wait, does LSD even HAVE an LD-50? “Bad trip” doesn’t mean death, it means super-bad wig-out.
–Tim
Like the site says, “No deaths resulting exclusively from LSD overdose have been reported”. LD-50 means what, a dosage sufficient to kill half the subjects, right? So I guess the LD-50 has not been ascertained; at least not for humans–God knows what the stuff does to lab rats. I supppose if you had enough of it you could drown or something.
Thanks MEBuckner, it was acetaminophen (paracetamol) that I was thinking of. Not only does it have a horrendously narrow therapeutic ratio as you say, it also has an unfortunate side-effect causing death in a small proportion of the population who are genetically pre-disposed, even when taken with normal doses.
I’ve heard that if aspirin was invented today, it would never be approved by the FDA as an OTC drug.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_dose.shtml lists the common dose of LSD as 100ug (1.5 blotter hits), and the LD50 as 12000ug (around 180 blotter hits). LSD has one of the highest therapeutic indices of any drug known.
The highest dose of LSD that someone has survived is 40000ug (which is equal to around 600 blotter hits).
With regards to what it does to lab animals: “Death in these animals is the result of respiratory failure, preceded in the rabbit by marked hyperthermia”
(Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose by Haddad Winchester, page 459).
Of course he still thinks he’s a glass of orange juice.
Im pretty sure that in the US if you are caught putting LSD in the city water supply its an act of Treason.
Or a campy James-Bond style knock-off.
–Tim