MCh1, I dig your avatar. My friends and I produced a four-act musical about Jack Sparrow for our senior project called "Saucy Jack". It was 2009... it was a 2.5 hour long joke about Jack Sparrow being in the closet and how his repressed sexuality was causing him most of his misfortune.
This is an interesting question and one that is totally out of my depth. I'm someone who has loved and used Cannabis since puberty, yet knows next to nothing about how it's truly produced or its chemistry. Cannabis always felt to me like a moving target, indica? sativa? Alaskan thunderfuck? Heroin seemed easier for me to understand as it is just Heroin and even if its not, it's probably an Opioid that acts in a nearly identical manner. The jury seems to be out still on Cannabis. I admittedly thought the industry would immediately change to a pharmaceutical model, extracts, pills, essentially, real, uniform dosing units. Anyway, ramble ramble.
I wouldn't consider Cannabis to be dangerous in terms of respiratory depression. I think, it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back for someone who is already heavily intoxicated and close to overdose, but I doubt it would be a major contributor. Not all sedatives produce respiratory depression in the way Opioids do. Ketamine can produce full anesthesia with little to no effect upon the patient's rate of respiration. So, I think Cannabis has stimulant and sedative properties, but I would describe it as a sedative, even if it doesn't reduce respiratory rate.
