The Rise of Psychotic Breaks - Wyoming beware: another hazard of marijuana

by Wyoming Liberty Group

Earlier this year, a California woman in her early 30s was sentenced to two years of probation—with no prison time—after stabbing her boyfriend over 100 times with a long-serrated bread knife and killing him.

Oh, and she also received a hundred hours of community service.

What explained the brief sentence for the chilling murder? Well, to hear the prosecutor's office tell it, in a statement, the woman "had an adverse reaction to the marijuana and suffered from what experts call Cannabis-Induced Psychotic Disorder."

She had a bad reaction from smoking pot. From a bong.

Lest we overlook the obvious, the attack didn't arise from those other notorious drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, which are often associated with violent episodes.

Whatever you may think of the two years of probation, the shocking case brings into sharp relief a growing problem with the spread of marijuana across the country, especially as pro-pot forces try to legalize the mind-altering drug in Wyoming. People—in particular, teenagers and other young people—are increasingly experiencing psychotic breaks, marked by delusions and hallucinations, as a result of high-potency marijuana, according to experts.

These psychotic episodes, by the way, are a clear demonstration of the hazards of marijuana, despite the recent move by the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify pot as a less dangerous drug.

Part of the pot problem, experts say, is a double-whamming: Marijuana is legally available in more states, and the pot industry is making higher-potency weed—loaded with tetrahydrocannabinol—the substance that makes the user high.

As recently noted by Dr. Kevin Sabet, head of the nonprofit Smart Approaches to Marijuana: "Today's marijuana is nothing like the Woodstock Weed of the 1960s, let alone the marijuana of even the Obama-era. It's genetically bred to be up to 99% pure THC—and with that comes dangerous consequences."

The marijuana industry has spent decades engineering stronger pot, which puts people at greater risk of psychotic breaks, especially teenagers and those with a genetic predisposition, experts say. Even more, the more pot consumed, the greater the risk.

"Those who consume the highest doses [of THC] are the ones that are going to have the highest risk of becoming psychotic," said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in a recent article.

Given the rise of violent outbreaks, the risks of marijuana-induced psychosis are gaining greater attention in the media. Just some examples:

"Teens Who Use Marijuana Are Suffering From Psychosis," declared a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal.

"High-potency marijuana highlights the risk of cannabis-induced psychiatric disorders," stated another recent headline, by NBC News.

"Marijuana Use Increasingly Linked to Addiction, Psychosis," said U.S. News & World Report.

Researchers are also increasingly sounding the alarm, and we need to pay attention here in Wyoming. That's because pro-pot forces want you to believe marijuana is a safer alternative to alcohol.

"We are not here to tell you that it is entirely without harms — what product is?" said the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-pot group trying to legalize marijuana throughout the country.

Pro-pot forces will go even further, making the absurd claim that marijuana is a form of medicine. But let's consider this: British and Danish studies indicate a connection between significant marijuana use and psychiatric conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia.

What's more, a study published by The Lancet Psychiatry, one of the top medical journals in the world, found a troubling connection between the use of cannabis—a polite word for marijuana—and psychotic episodes.

"Daily cannabis use was associated with increased odds of psychotic disorder compared with never users, increasing to nearly five-times increased odds for daily use of high-potency types of cannabis," the study found.

Did you catch that? The daily user of pot is nearly five times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder. That, by the way, doesn't even address other serious mental illnesses linked to weed, such as depression and suicide, a major problem in our state.

In The Lancet study, the researchers made another troubling point: "Cross-sectional and prospective epidemiological studies, as well as biological evidence support a causal link between cannabis use and psychotic disorder. Meta-analysis shows a dose–response association with the highest odds of psychotic disorder in those with the heaviest cannabis use."

In other words, this isn't an isolated case that can be written off; they aren't the only ones raising concerns about the link between marijuana use and psychotic disorders.

Other studies—not to mention "biological evidence"—indicate a real threat posed by pot.

How can we countenance this for Wyoming—or anywhere else? The answer is simple: We can't. It's a matter of compassion and common sense.