There's nothing funny about today's marijuana. It killed my son
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As attorneys argued over a section of Arizona law that differentiates between marijuana and cannabis , the state’s Supreme Court justices joked about baking pot brownies in their kitchens.
They clearly do not understand how the marijuana industry has irresponsibly manipulated pot into dangerously high levels of potency.
My son could explain it to them. Or he could if he was still with us.
“I want to die,” he wrote before hanging himself at the age of 31. “My soul is already dead. Marijuana killed my soul + ruined my brain.”
Andy had been the class clown. He made parties come alive. He helped friends through tough times and served with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq.
Then he became addicted to pot, using a medical marijuana card that enabled him to buy enough pot for up to 10 joints a day. That would keep anyone baked all day. He was hospitalized in five mental health hospitals and did two stints of court-ordered mental health treatment.
He told me that to live, he needed to quit marijuana. He just couldn’t do it.
The marijuana industry doesn’t like to acknowledge people like my son, dismissing his case as an aberration. But he is not alone, and new research shows the toll marijuana takes.
A new study shows he's not alone
The peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet last month published a major study that found people who use high-potency marijuana daily are five times more likely to develop psychosis than those who never partake. The researchers compared data for more than 2,100 people in six countries.
They defined “high potency” as over 10% THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot. Ten percent isn’t all that high. Arizona’s medical dispensaries tout cannabis products — the subject of the recent Supreme Court hearings — with THC up to 90%.
The researchers concluded that up to half of first-episode psychosis cases could be prevented if high-potency marijuana were not available.
This is what Arizona’s high court justices missed when they joked about baking marijuana brownies. The low-potency marijuana of their formative years is a relic of history.
Profit-seeking companies have pushed THC levels higher and higher. They have done this primarily by extracting THC from the leafy plant and flowers to create new, high-potency products they call shatter, wax or hash.
Maybe it’s easy for the marijuana industry to dismiss my son’s suicide. But it can’t ignore The Lancet study, which notes that “our findings are consistent with previous epidemiological and experimental evidence suggesting that the use of cannabis with a high concentration of THC has more harmful effects on mental health than does use of weaker forms.”
Today’s marijuana has as much similarity to the pot brownies of the 1970s as a smart phone does to a Texas Instruments calculator. Today’s marijuana is incredibly potent, powerful enough to destroy lives.
It’s not something to laugh about.
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Should we also ban high proof of alcohol because people get drunk and experience alcohol poisoning faster when they are drinking 150 proof liquors?
If there was a warning about the high THC content, I don't see the problem, unless people now want a nanny state to tell adults they can only smoke low THC marijuana? There is a give and take with freedom and personal responsibility.
Where is his personal responsibility to know his limits? Did his family see a problem with his use of marijuana and not do anything?
Good grief. Read the article and Lancet study!
I read the article.
He was psychologically addicted to it, so why didn't his family get him help? Is it the fault of the growers that some people have adverse reactions or have lower tolerances of THC?
Do you now want to allow people who are alcoholics to sue the brewers and distillers, plus the local bartender because they became addicted to various forms of alcohol?
Most pot proponents will dismiss any science that counters their mythology.
I know. Here's the medically peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet :
And here's what Rolling Stone said about it:
The exact ant-science response I expected in the RS.
Where was the science part in this? It's not disputed that potency is much higher than in the past. And some people are prone to addiction of anything, pills, alcohol, gambling, smoking....... I don't know why you think anybody would laugh at this man's story, but its about a veteran that had medical issues that weren't being addressed, and he was self medicating, as millions of people do. Of course nobody wants or laughs about that. Maybe solving our mental health problems is a better start, the root of the problem. Medical cannabis helps millions of people and their needs also need taken into account.
Nicely stated.
Thank you. It hard to figure out the point of this seed. Is it banning marijuana or what?
"I don't know why you think anybody would laugh at this man's story..."
Please don't lie about what I said. It makes you look bad.
Ain't the Internet a grand invention?
Seemed pretty obvious to me...
Cerenkov didn't laugh at anything and no one else has. Stop making up crap.
Perhaps you should read the seeded article. Andy Schindel was not "self medicating". He had prescriptions for medical marijuana, but his doctors didn't monitor his usage and mental health.
This idea should the subject of many threads but many people in the US don't want to discuss it because of cost or think that mental illness is just for people who are weak or non-believers. If we treated cancer or heart disease in the US like we do mental health people would be outraged and protesting in the streets but when the condition doesn't show up on a blood test or an MRI, it is easy to dismiss.
The last line before the comments. Read it. That is what I'm referring to. I wouldn't have brought it up at all if it weren't right in front of my fricken face when I started.
READ THE LAST DAMN LINE BEFORE THE COMMENTS SECTIONS, FFS! I'm referring to that. Don't you even read your own shit?
And I read the whole article too, but non-monitored mental illness taking meds is still self medicating. People are prescribed meds all the time and abuse them. JFC
When your comments are less immature, hostile, and vulgar, I'll be happy to engage in an adult discussion with you.
I believe it is attempting to point out that it can have extremely negative effects in some cases and not to run willy nilly to legalize it.
It does effect most folks differently and if there are other psychological issues at play I would imagine it amplifies the condition. Layman's take, not a Doc by any stretch.
Oh, right, 'tell it like it is' only acceptable when a lying asshole does it. I'm not apologizing for swearing, put your filter on if you can't handle it. Try speaking to the original comment instead of accusing me of bringing in laughing out of the blue. And it might help if instead of taking every 'you' as personal, assume its plural. Sometimes I go back and forth, maybe I need to address each 'you'. It would be funny, watching you (singular here) get the vapors, except its just a tactic to deflect from my original comment. Don't always have the patience for it.
It would help if they would actually study it. Until then, mental illness and psychosis is not being addressed, and I'm not sure why we are zeroing in of cannabis.
I hate to be cynical, but I believe that they look at it as a profit center at this point. From a medical standpoint many seem to find relief from whatever affliction they may have, but as you feel, it needs more study for long term effects on differing conditions.
Kind of ironic as I knew folks arrested for possession of less than an ounce, know it is being considered a tax cash cow.
I just don't really care. If someone wants to smoke, then go ahead and smoke, just don't drive or otherwise endanger anyone else. It is none of my business.
I might suggest that the unfortunate young man had other issues and perhaps the usage of weed magnified those. I have smoked weed for over fifty years, hiatuses along the way from time to time (other than perhaps being a bit bitchy, there are no physical withdrawal symptoms that I am aware of or have experienced) but pretty much constant in varying quantities.
A tragedy without a doubt but more in play than only weed I feel.
There is a consistent percentage of people who develop paranoia through pot use. It is not "harmless".
Of course a lot of things are not "harmless" either, such as alcohol. However many millions of people can take a drink of alcohol to moderation ("a drink, or two"). Hardly anyone takes just one hit of marijuana. The purpose of using it is to alter one's consciousness.
I don't think people should go to jail for using it, but I don't think the government should promote its use by liscensing the sale of it either.
I use medicinal marijuana nightly - THC and CBD are both balanced to a 1:1 ratio to stop/reduce restless leg and PTSD. But, I only use what is prescribed by my physician.
I work at a University golf course and have seen numerous instances of the "kids" getting in their carts and, after a few holes and at least two joints, their driving capabilities are impaired and, needless to say, their golf game sucks - but, they "claim" they are relaxed and happy. May be true, but I doubt it. Three of them I know have had terrible auto accidents and confessed to smoking while driving.
Sure - marijuana, alcohol and any other "kick" to life can be and is dangerous if not used and treated with respect and in moderation.
10 joints a day???? Shyte - yeah, that'll screw up your cognitive abilities.
Um, boo hoo? Maybe you shouldn't have smoked as much? I am not sure what I am supposed to do with this.
How callous. Maybe you should have read the article. He was prescribed medical marijuana.
Since your comment shows zero compassion for someone who was suffering, not commenting might have been a better choice.
Did he or his family ever attempt to contact the prescribing physician and tell them of the problem?
Meh, and? If the weed is messing you up stop using it. Talk to your doctor etc.
Everyone has problems and a lot of people are suffering far worse than this.
Probably a good thing I'm allergic to Marijuana. I break out in hives from it.
Eh, I never was into it. Tried it a few times and just felt light headed, not really my thing.