Heroin More Dangerous Than Marijuana: DEA

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More than 94 million people in the U.S. have used marijuana at least once in their life. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World reports that around the world, 158.8 million people use marijuana. Additionally, the Foundation says that among adults aged 26 or older, 62 percent used cocaine at some point in their lives, while nine percent used heroin at least once.

According to the Huffington Post, recently-appointed Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg said, "heroin is clearly more dangerous than marijuana."

He added that while the DEA enforces current marijuana laws, they are still focusing on "the biggest and most important cases there are," which include "heroin, opioids, meth and cocaine, in roughly that order, and marijuana tends to come in at the back of the pack."

An opiate drug derived from morphine, heroin is a drug grown from the opium poppy plant and is listed under hte US Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I narcotic, meaning there are no medical benefits derived from it, and that it has a high potential for abuse, according to Livescience.

Dr. Scott Krakower, an assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Long Island, New York, said that "Physiologically, over the long run it can cause trouble with breathing and kidney function. If you're using it intravenously, it can cause collapse of blood vessels."

It has a depressive effect on respiration that causes shallow breathing. Additionally, consuming heroin may result in convulsions, low pule rate, blue lips and fingernails, clammy skin, coma, and even death.

Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of Drug Policy Alliance, told HuffPost, "It’s sort of remarkable that a DEA chief simply saying heroin is more dangerous than marijuana could actually make news. I guess that’s a reflection of how out of touch his predecessor was--that she couldn’t bring herself to simply state the obvious." Nadelmann was referring of course to Michele Leonhart. The Drug Policy Alliance is one of the world's largest public policy organizations that are pushing for the reform of marijuana laws.

In fact, Reuters reports that in Massachusetts, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and the Bay State Repeal, two marijuana advocacy groups, are all set to submit proposed ballot initiatives that will allow "voters to decide whether to legalize recreational pot smoking in the state."

Will Luzier, director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said: "The primary objective of this initiative is to actually start controlling marijuana in Massachusetts. Marijuana should be produced and sold by legitimate, taxpaying businesses, not gangs and cartels."

Other states that have legalized the use of recreational marijuana are Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon.