Sarah H – June 3, 2021

I have been wanting to post our story for a while and today is that day. Our story is a mirror of many of those before us. Days after our son turned 18, he had his first psychotic break. 2 months later his older brother had his first psychotic break. This was 2 years ago and it has been very difficult ever since. Both boys were using high Thc in the Forms of dab pens, wax, and edibles. We , like so many of you, knew nothing about this “new drug- I say new because it is not the same drug as it was years ago(as we all now know). I had been to many drug talks at our high school and never heard anything about what high thc was let alone the dangers that could occur. My husband and I found weed paraphernalia when our son was 17, confiscated it, but actually breathed a sigh of relief that it was only weed he was experimenting with!! Over the last 2 years, our younger son has had some successes but recently had his 4th hospitalization. His older brother just had his second. We have tried everything, therapy for them( which they never really liked) therapy for us, his parents, NAMI classes, and many online groups. After this past hospitalization we sent one son to PACE dual diagnosis and another to a mental health facility in eastern pa. We still have hope and pray that this will make the difference. One son has an addiction and the other has never stayed on medication long enough for us to know why the delusional thinking still exists. Both boys had delusion thinking, auditory hallucinations, and anxiety. We have no family history of any of this. We are a close big family, I’m a stay at home mom, my husband has worked from home for years, we eat dinner together every night, we have wonderful extended family,… I could have never, ever have believed this could happen to us- but it did. Weed is not legal recreational in our state but it is easy to get. In fact my son was even ordering weed and psychedelics on the dark web and paying for it with Bitcoin! I will pray for all of you and do whatever I can to help educate anyone who will listen.