Episode 1: He is a Different Boy
“Your son has Cannabis-Induced Psychosis,” said my son’s psychologist. That was in 2021, just two weeks before his 18th birthday, during his senior year in high school.
His initial symptoms were delusions of grandeur. He was going to change to world with his music because of the special vibrations in his hands, which he covered with a glove.
Over the next six months, our world shattered into pieces when suddenly all forms of psychosis became apparent in him. He experienced visual and auditory hallucinations, religious delusions, severe self-harm, a desire to become homeless, feelings of superpowers, days without sleeping, and suicidal ideations, to name a few. We were devastated and couldn’t do anything about it because he had turned 18. It felt like we were wearing a straitjacket of fear.
He was hospitalized four times. Each time, we begged them to keep him and help him, only to watch helplessly when they released him after three days. Finally, on the fifth hospitalization, they deemed him gravely disabled. The county conserved him, which forced him into treatment and medication compliance.
I wish that was our happy ending, but it was just the beginning of the devastating grief that comes from watching your sweet boy have his brain hijacked from THC. Nothing was helping his psychosis. Even six months of sobriety didn’t pull him out. Were we ever going to get him back? After months of failed medications, we finally found the right combination of clozapine and Abilify, and we started seeing glimpses of our boy again.
We are now almost three years down the road, 36 different types of medications. 349 days of actual hospitalizations, ten treatment centers in three states, five horrifying disappearances, and ten relapses. I’m happy to say my mom boxing gloves are on the shelf for now.
But he is a different boy. He has a serous diagnosis. He is recovering slowly and is still in treatment. But he finally has insight and is med compliant. He recognizes that he can’t touch THC ever again. He has gained much wisdom and now writes songs about his journey. He is still our sweet boy whom we love dearly.
This did not have to happen if he hadn’t started using THC products. Please know that Cannabis-Induced Psychosis is REAL. It happened to my child. Educate your child on the harms of THC at JohnnysAmbassadors.org.
Episode 2: A Truly Horrible Drug
I knew weed wasn’t good for the brain. I was never interested in it, nor wanted any of my children to use it. But until three months ago, I had no idea how truly horrible this drug was.
My 18-year-old son used to be social, funny, outgoing, and a fabulous athlete, until a friend at school gave him a THC vape. At first, I had no idea. But he quit sports, became socially withdrawn, and started to struggle with school.
I discovered his vape use and naturally attempted to get him to stop. He began to get in trouble with the law and exhibit strange behaviors.
When this happened, it was devastating. But I attributed these behaviors to being high. I created consequences, set boundaries, practiced tough love, and prayed that my son outgrow this “phase” and eventually give up marijuana.
I wish I knew then that the THC was actually damaging his brain, but the addiction for profit industry does a pretty good job of convincing the public that marijuana is a playful, innocuous drug.
Let me tell you, it’s not.
My son was struggling to hold a job, arguing with me and his siblings, withdrawing from activities, and having a hard time doing basic tasks he’d never struggled with before. When wouldn’t even come out of his room to celebrate Christmas, I knew something terribly wrong, but it was worse than I’d ever imagined.
After a horrible, scary episode, I took dramatic action to force my son to be seen at the hospital, where he was diagnosed with Cannabis Induced Psychosis.
I had never heard of it!
My son’s brain has been damaged, and even though he is now totally clean from marijuana, and any other drug for that matter, he suffers from the horrible symptoms of this heartbreaking condition: paranoia, confusion, hallucinations, jumbled speech, and cognitive impairment, just to name a few.
I wouldn’t wish this journey on my worst enemy.
Cannabis Induced Psychosis is REAL. It happened to my child. Educate your child on the harms of THC at JohnnysAmbassadors.org.
Episode 3: CIP Has Devastated our Lives
In 2018 I celebrated the graduation of my first-born son, who was an Eagle Scout and honors student. Little did I know, he had begun using marijuana to deal with his social anxiety as he entered college.
When he came home for Thanksgiving break his sophomore year, I noticed changes in his behavior. He was irritable and aggressive, but I was unaware he was using THC products until he admitted to his physician he was smoking weed.
When he came from for Christmas break, he started using THC daily. He experienced his first psychotic break and was hospitalized. He only tested positive for THC. He was discharged on a small dose of antipsychotic medication. I allowed him to return to college, not then realizing the connection to THC and Cannabis-Induced Psychosis or CIP.
Then, COVID happened, and he came home and got a job. There was a vape and smoke shop near our home, and he started using the Delta 8 THC products sold there, which are chemically derived from hemp. He soon became addicted, which led to severe personality changes. He was again admitted to the hospital and then an intensive outpatient program.
He returned to college the following semester. However, he failed, because his continued use of THC products caused memory issues, confusion, and a decrease in his cognitive abilities. So, he had to leave school.
He tried to work, but he just spent most of his paychecks at the local vape store, buying Delta 8 THC and CBD products, thinking they would help take his mind away from the psychotic symptoms he was now experiencing.
This led to a revolving door of hospitalizations, but none of them focused on his THC addiction or tried to get him to stop; they only concentrated on stabilizing him with medications.
Cannabis-Induced Psychosis has devastated our lives. My son’s brain health has been severely damaged, and our family has been traumatized. I now live on edge, not knowing if my son will ever be mentally stable again.
I have not found any treatment programs that specialize or focus on CIP that are affordable or insurance will pay for. I have gone into debt, sending him to out of state programs in hopes that his brain will have a chance to heal. My son has still not grasped the fact that THC products are the cause of his brain creating his false reality.
Today, doctors diagnose him as schizophrenic, but typical antipsychotics don’t take away the damage caused by the THC products. My son is 24 years old and living in his own private hell. All because he started smoking weed. I wish legislators would understand the danger of all THC products, natural and synthetic, on developing brains.
Cannabis-Induced Psychosis is REAL. It happened to my child. Educate your child on the harms of THC at JohnnysAmbassadors.org.
Episode 4: We Were Absolutely Blindsided
Hi, I’m here to speak to you, parent to parent, about our family’s story with THC.
When my son developed severe cannabis use disorder at 18 and cannabis-induced psychosis at 21, we were absolutely blindsided. We didn’t have the science, education, or resources that exist today and had no idea how addictive THC is.
As a mom raising two active boys in a tight knit community, I focused on school, sports, and friends, just normal things parents devote time to. Never did it cross my mind to educate myself on THC.
In fall 2018, my oldest son—athletic, intelligent, and sober—started college in Washington, D.C. with a full class load and a senate internship. Marijuana was legal and accessible, and that’s when everything changed. His new habit of high-potency THC quickly moved to addiction. THC was silently rewiring his brain, damaging critical neural pathways.
Several months into using, he experienced two brief but terrifying psychotic episodes. Despite those early scares, he continued his use, and his problems worsened. My son suffered severe cognitive decline — trouble concentrating, navigating campus, and even finding his bus stop. He failed out of college. He was wrongly diagnosed with ADHD, because heavy THC use mimics the cognitive and executive dysfunction that he was presenting to his medical provider.
In November 2021, after continuing to heavily use under the radar, he experienced a psychotic break. His reality now consisted of unrelenting hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. It was as if I was watching the slow death of my child.
The college student, the aspiring model, the champion go kart racer and gamer, the devoted older brother—was becoming unrecognizable.
He believed he was living in a simulation. He thought he had implants in his eyes, hands, and brain. He believed he was a fallen angel with broken wings. He had torturous noise in his head 24/7. He went days without food or sleep. He told us, “If they don’t stop, I’ll end my life by 22.” I cried daily with despair and helplessness as I saw the THC that caused his suffering became the only thing he thought could ease it.
After three involuntary hospitalizations and two years of residential treatment programs, we are still dealing with the aftermath.
The unintended consequences of using THC for anxiety, sleep, or recreation can—and often do—become permanent. He still struggles today. Our story doesn’t have an ending. Many young adults with no underlying mental illnesses are developing lifelong psychotic disorders.
Cannabis-Induced Psychosis is REAL. It happened to my child. Educate your child on the harms of THC at JohnnysAmbassadors.org.