They’ve even isolated genes that predict profoundly harmful responses to cannabis.
Making cannabis legal is one of the worst ideas ever.
Reading this reality makes me so sad. Our son became an addict in his teenage years and I feel like I’ve lost him ever since then. Somedays it’s just overwhelming how much I miss him. I am, however, determined to help him and this year, we got him off marijuana. It escalated into jail when he tried to kill my husband but I know God protected both of them.
I want to dig in and be an advocate against marijuana. That’s what I can do to help other parents wake up and realize what’s at risk!
Cannabis increases my daughter’s paranoia and delusions and I told myself for years that cannabis is what triggered my daughter’s mental illness. I do believe there are many drugs and chemicals that triggers a distorted view of the world. For me I was trying to find an association between my daughter’s mental illness and drugs or maybe the foods she ate or maybe the way I raised her. I was desperate for a logical answer but I can now see that cannabis and me was not the culprit . I could have been the best mom for my child she still would have developed mi. Mental illness is in my family and my daughter father’s family. I hope that in the not so distant future a cause can finally be explained as well as better medication without the horrendous side effects.
I too feel sad after reading this article. My son started using and abusing marijuana when he was still in High School and has developed schizophrenia. He flat out refuses to get into any treatment. I’ve done a bit of research and came to the awareness that marijuana was most likely the trigger for him. He even had an episode years ago while with friends and they all came up with some story about how he made his own pipe and how the glue caused it. But it was a full on psychotic episode and I thought they had laced his pot with something. But hindsight is 20/20 and seven challenging years later and with gradual onset we are now just at the very beginning of accepting that he has schizophrenia. For now he is somewhat stable and is no longer homeless without food or shelter, living with us more as a kind of base. A place to get a warm meal, shower and a good night sleep. He can work a few hours a week with his dad, because he is very skilled at building, but that is a whole other rollercoaster ride for my husband with regular scenes happening on the job site and getting to the job is a major challenge. Then off on another wild journey to his camp sight, in search of weed. It is his medicine, his way to self medicate and the monkey on his back keeping him from accepting help. I have been reading Xavier Amador’s book and it has helped us a lot with our way of communicating with him. Still we are unsure of how long we can handle the situation long term. I guess we can really only handle it one day at a time anyway.
Hey terrific person. I’m so sorry you’re in this hell and I recognize it and understand what a horrible situation it is. My son went the same route and I get what you mean about accepting their diagnosis. It took me about that long too. I will pray today that you find a way to help your son to break the cycle of addiction. You’re stronger than you know 
My son is in jail right now for saying he was going to kill his dad too. He was charged with domestic violence. He goes to court on November 18. Was your son sentenced yet and how is he doing?
Lmr,
I’m so sorry that your son is in jail. Here’s what we learned during our horrible experience. We did not agree to have charges against our son lowered. So he had two felony charges. Which is horrible. Then we did not bail him out. He still does not forgive us for that. We were able to arrange for the charges to be lowered to misdemeanors if he stays out of trouble for a year (worked with the DA and his PD).
I get where you’re at; it’s a complete nightmare and our son was so upset in jail. They are ill equipped to give him the right medicine and our Kaiser doctor didn’t help in any way.
The good news… our son takes being on probation as serious. He now knows what prison is like and it’s motivating. Our son is home again and has started working with a therapist somewhat. And, I;m praying we get him to attend a SZ weekly support group this week. The big deal is that he has been off marijuana for a few months. He hasn’t skipped out of our house to tackle addiction with peers. But I’m hoping for a small, very small improvement, each week and when it happens I’m thrilled and when it doesn’t happen I pray more and work on my patience.
How can I help? Hugs to you and your family — this can only get better for you
Momwithbeautifulson,
Thanks for your reply. My son’s domestic violence charge is a misdeamenor too. We are not bailing him out either. He is ok with that because after he is sentenced he would be sent back to jail. My son is 30 and doesn’t live with us.
He is refusing medicine in jail. NAMI is suggesting he gets drug treatment to see if he truly has a mental illness,. For 10 years he has either been on street drugs or antipsychotics. He does sound clearer on the phone. We are just hoping for the best.
Hope it gets better for your family too!
Lmr,
I’m sorry that you’re going through all of this. That’s great that he’s sounding clearer. I hope you’re able to find resources that can figure out if he has a mental illness. And, I pray for you that you find resources that can help him get healthier and happier over time. Hugs.
It takes a while for the diagnosis to sink in for the family. My son was diagnosed 7 years ago. He too is a skilled builder. It is hard to find work only on the good days. We have learned to appreciate the good days, and just be there for support on the not so good days. The hallucinations, visual, auditory, and sensory are real to him. What we try to keep in mind is how difficult it is for us knowing they are just hallucinations, it is even more difficult for him trying to make sense of what is going on. And yes, you can only handle one day at a time.
I know pot does damage the teenage brain, but if it truly was that much of a threat then many more millions trend would be schizophrenic. And why can’t the mind heal after the drug is stopped? Addicts recover. I know there must be a rare genetic component that the drugs unlock.
I thank you all for your comments and thoughts! For a fleeting moment I felt desperate and thought pot would be better than the Xanax and Percocet bc he can’t overdose on pot! It was a moment of selfishness and desperation on my part! I know that is not the answer and that I was just grasping at straws!! Thanks to everyone for bringing me back to reality!!
I found that most research paper that was referenced at the top of this post. Perhaps people are interested in it:
Association between Alcohol, Cannabis and Other Illicit Substance Abuse and Risk of Developing Schizophrenia: A Nationwide Population Based Register Study
I’ve also updated the main link story with some graphics from the story.