Jules — May 23, 2021

Hi Laura, I am so very sorry for your loss. I am certain Johnny was an amazing young man. His story is so very similar to my son’s, and they were born the same year. My son started using his junior year in high school when he was 15. He was young for his grade. By the time he went off to a UC he was smoking daily. This highly academic student began to lose the ability to focus, and his anxiety got out of control. We had our first indication of psychosis on Mother’s Day 2020 when he was home during lock down. We took him to the ER and he was diagnosed with “cannabis use disorder.” I did not understand at the time that this meant “your son is addicted.” He got into an outpatient program through his UC and after a brief stint at sobriety, he relapsed. He subsequently had 5 more hospitalizations with in a brief 3-month period. Luckily we got him into an inpatient rehab program for dual diagnosis since the medical community cannot untangle true underlying mental illness from CIP until the patient is 6 months sober. He was there for 2 months. He’s now been sober for 8 months. His bipolar diagnosis has been revised to CIP. He attends MA regularly and is in therapy. He is ready to return to university this fall. BUT my God, this could have easily been a different ending. It still could be. Sobriety is something my son will have to remain actively committed to the rest of his live. Anyway, I want to thank you for sharing your story, for setting up a non-profit to spread awareness of CIP. Without awareness and education, this tragedy will play out across too many families. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.