(NewsNation) As the legalization of recreational marijuana spreads, a growing body of research suggests there may be a possible risk between the drug and serious mental health problems.
There is concern about a possible link between cannabis, psychosis and schizophrenia, and research suggests that young people are at highest risk.
Laura and John Stack are still grappling with their son’s 2019 suicide. The Stacks live in Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana in 2012. They say their son, Johnny, became a regular user as a teenager.
It said: what do you want mom and dad, I have a 4.0. And it was quite difficult to discuss it. And she didn’t seem to have a problem until she did, said Laura.
Compounding his problems, Johnny also used potted products made with extracts that don’t produce any telltale odor.
He had started vaping. And it was completely odorless. And from about age 14 to 1, we had no idea, John said.
At 18, Johnny was a heavy user and exhibiting symptoms of psychosis.
He started thinking people were listening to him through his iPhone, he would buy disposable phones and put sticky notes on his webcam, Laura said. He was saying people were looking at him, he started to think the crowd was looking for him.
The Stacks are now left loving photos and videos, including one of Johnny reciting a poem three days before he took his own life.
Since the spread of legalization over the past decade, numerous studies have examined the health impacts of marijuana.
The latest is a Danish study co-authored by a director of the National Institute of Health.
If it produces psychosis and acute psychotic episodes, that can lead to[symptoms]that can be very, very terrifying. Someone could practically kill themselves in a very impulsive act, Dr. Nora Volkow said.
In the study, published this month in Psychological Medicine, the researchers said there is enough data to confirm that an association between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia is stronger in young males than females.
That transitional period between your pre-teens and 20s is exactly when you start to see schizophrenia emerge, but the risks are significantly higher for males than females, Volkow said.
The legalization of marijuana has ushered in a new generation of potent weed, one that contains far more THC, the part of the plant that induces a high.
In the 1970s, the average plant had a THC level of less than 3%. Genetic engineering over the decades has pushed that average up to nearly 25%.
Dr. Christine Miller is a neurobiologist and psychosis expert.
They conducted studies in Europe where they gave subjects purified THC in a clinical trial and found that 40 percent of those with no family history of psychosis developed psychotic symptoms, he said.
Recreational sales are now legal in 22 states, along with Washington, D.C. Only Vermont and Connecticut have potency limits.
Three days before Johnny died, the Stacks said he told them he was sorry and that he loved them, but marijuana had ruined his mind and life.
The Stacks are now traveling the country to warn others about the dangers of potent weed. Earlier this month, Oklahoma joined a number of other states in rejecting legalization for recreational use.
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