Kathy — August 30, 2021

My son, age 23, is addicted to weed and gambling. He has been struggling for 5 years now. He moved home with me after being in and out of college at OSU. He suffered from severe anxiety and depression. Never leaving his bed. I didn’t realize this until he finally flunked out of college and admitted to his depression. He moved home with me and got on anti-anxiety meds, but we thought it was “ok” for him to get his medical marijuana card as we “thought” weed was helping his anxiety. Fast forward a year and me getting more educated about the harmful effects of today’s marijuana/dabbing, I changed my tune. Adam tried to work and after a week quit due to his high anxiety, vomiting, etc. I then realized he was an addict, and he agreed to get help. He has been with a treatment center as outpatient and weaned off the weed for about 40 days getting his levels from 1500 to 17. Last week, he admitted he never stopped gambling (he got a job as a package handler at FedEx) and has lost every cent he has earned. I also suspected he was using again, as I noticed a change in his personality. I contacted his counselor at the treatment center and sure enough, his THC level was back up to 980. I am devastated. He isn’t combative, which I am thankful for. He thinks he is “ok,” because he isn’t dabbing or smoking the amount he use to; however, I pointed out that he is headed in that direction. He is supposed to start a class next week to continue in school, and I informed him he is paying for it until he can prove to stay clean and serious about school and being sober. Right now he is seeing a substance abuse counselor at a treatment center once a week and a gambling counselor once a week. I tried to get him to do “in-patient” but he refuses. I’m completely open to talking to anyone. After reading your book, I felt so connected to you and Johnny. So many things you wrote about I could relate to. THANK YOU for writing this book. I told my son about Johnny and how he started with anxiety and depression and moved to psychosis. He responded, “that is only one in a million cases, Mom!”  I have a younger son who is 18 and to my knowledge doesn’t drink or smoke but when trying to talk to him about today’s marijuana, he also has a hard time believing it leads to mental illness. All I can do is try and keep educating them. I just wanted to tell my story and let you know how much your book meant to me and how sorry I am that you lost your precious son!  He was beautiful!