9 everyday items more likely to kill you than cannabis

Marijuana has a reputation problem. But a new study might help to end the bad rap after it found that the drug is 114 times less deadly than alcohol.

The authors of the paper, published in Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of the journal Nature, tried to find the risk of death associated with a variety of commonly used drugs, and concluded alcohol was the most dangerous substance, followed by class A drugs heroin and cocaine.

Marijuana came in right at the bottom of the list, in 114th place. In the wake of the research we had a look at the everyday items and occurrences you might not realise could send you to meet your maker:

1. Vending machines

In the US around two or three people are crushed to death every year trying to tilt faulty vending machines.

Source: CPSC

2. Water

A gallon of water in an hour will give you a headache. Another three quarters of a gallon and your nervous system will shut down.

Source: Forbes

3. High heels

Most effective when wielded as a murder weapon, as in 2011 and 2013, but they also send around 240 emergency admissions in Australia between 2006–2010.

Source: Daily Mail, Journal of Foot and Ankle research

4. The stairs

And if you insist on wearing heels, careful on the stairs: more than 350 Britons lost their lives falling down the stairs in 2010.

Source: the Guardian

5. Scarves (Isadora Duncan Syndrome)

Dancer Isadora Duncan was strangled in 1929 when her silk scarf got caught in the wheels of her Bugatti. She’s not alone: scarves get tangled in machinery and wheels so often the medical community named a syndrome after her.

Source: BMJ

6. The beach

You don’t even need to get as far as a shark attack in the water to die at the beach. Asphyxiation from collapsing sand holes has killed 31 people over 10 years, according to the New England Medical Journal.

Source: New England Medical Journal.

7. Your doctor’s handwriting

Sloppy writing can lead to inaccurate prescriptions - which kill 7,000 people a year in the US alone.

Source: Time

8. Icicles

Dozens of people a year are killed by falling icicle shards, especially in Russia. Ouch.

Source: Telegraph

9. Champagne corks

Almost 24 people a year die partying too hard when champagne corks fly off with unexpected force.

Source: Daily Mail

More: Weed is 114 times less deadly than alcohol, study finds

More: The drugs that are far more deadly than cannabis