'Someone told me you can die from cannabis. Is this true?'

our online advisors reply:

There are no recorded cases of someone dying from an overdose of cannabis. If you smoke or eat too much you are most likely to fall asleep, or be sick, long before you have had enough to cause an overdose.

So cannabis can't kill you in the way other drugs might. Having said that, smoking any substance does carry serious health risks.

Smoking cannabis harms the body in the same way smoking tobacco does. There is increased risk of lung diseases and cancer. It is suggested that cannabis smoke contains four times as many cancer-causing chemicals as tobacco smoke. Of course, cannabis is often mixed with tobacco when people smoke it. Cannabis smokers also tend to inhale deeply and hold the smoke down for a long time, so they are holding the harmful chemicals in their lungs for longer than a tobacco smoker usually would.

So, although someone is extremely unlikely to die suddenly as a direct result of smoking cannabis, they are probably shortening their life expectancy.

Cannabis has been linked to other health problems, but there's not much hard scientific evidence to prove this. For example, it is thought to sometimes to make mental illnesses worse, and some people believe cannabis can cause impotence and infertility.

Another serious risk comes from the fact that cannabis affects perception and co-ordination. Someone driving, or operating machinery, after they have been smoking would be more likely to have an accident.

Our 'abc of drugs' in the drugs section has an entry for cannabis, which includes information on the risks. Go to abc of drugs – cannabis.

If you want to talk to someone in person about drugs, you could contact FRANK. They have advisors waiting to offer free and confidential assistance, 24 hours a day, on 0800 77 66 00.

I hope this answers your question.

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.