Page 10 of the
report:
I ASKED DAVID IF DANIEL USES ANY DRUGS SUCH AS MARIJUANA, COCAINE, METHAMPHETAMINE, ETC. DAVID SAID HE WAS ONLY AWARE OF DANIEL USING MARIJUANA.
I just wrote an entire thing about the link between marijuana triggering psychotic episodes, especially within people already struggling with mental health issues, on the
Jason Landry thread. I will copy & paste here what is relevant, but if you'd like to read my own story & struggle with the mental illness/weed combo, feel free to check out his thread.
-
So, a lot of people don't know this, but weed itself can for sure cause psychotic episodes, etc. I cannot smoke weed, period, it triggers massive anxiety within me and has caused depressive or anxious episodes that have lasted
weeks at a time (absolute hell, for anyone wondering).
Does Cannabis Cause Psychosis?
“Mr Green” is a 39 year-old African-American male with a history of chronic schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder, and alcohol use disorder. He started smoking cannabis almost daily at age 20. When he was 22, he was in a motor vehicle accident while under the influence of substances and suffered a head injury. Several months later, he was hospitalized for a first episode of psychosis (FEP). Thereafter, he participated in a long-term antipsychotic clinical trial.
Over the past 2 decades, there has been extensive research on the association between cannabis and psychosis.
Modulation of the endocannabinoid system by the main psychoactive component in marijuana,
Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, can induce acute psychosis and cognitive impairment.
Carney and colleagues investigated the prevalence of cannabis use and its association with symptoms in participants at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. Across 30 studies (n=4205 UHR), there was a 27% current and 53% lifetime prevalence of cannabis use, and a 13% prevalence of cannabis use disorders (CUD). This corresponded to a 2.09-fold and 5.45-fold increased odds of lifetime use and CUD, respectively, in patients at UHR compared to n=667 controls. Furthermore,
UHR cannabis users had a higher prevalence of both suspiciousness (ES=0.21) and unusual thought content (ES=0.27).
Johnson and colleagues11 conducted a large genome-wide association study of those who use cannabis (n=20,916) and controls (n=363,116). They identified 2 loci with genome-wide significance: a novel locus on chromosome 7 (
FOXP2; OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.07-1.15), and a previously identified locus on chromosome 8 (near
CHRNA2 and
EPHX2; OR=0.89, 95% CI 0.86-0.93).
Importantly, cannabis use and CUD were significantly, positively, and genetically correlated with schizophrenia in this study.
Szoke and colleagues4 meta-analyzed 29 studies of cannabis use and schizotypy (attenuated psychosis).
Lifetime cannabis users had significantly greater scores for total (ES=0.42), positive (ES=0.44), negative (ES=0.18), and disorganized (ES=0.33) schizotypy versus never users. Furthermore, current cannabis users had significantly greater scores for total (ES=0.21), positive (ES=0.23), and disorganized (ES=0.27), but not negative schizotypy scores versus subjects that do not currently use cannabis.
For anyone wondering about schizotypal personality disorder (SPD),
here is more information. My brother has it, so I feel comfortable speaking to it. It is difficult to witness your loved one go through paranoia and delusions.
Here's some of the common symptoms -
- Dress, speak, or act in an odd or unusual way
- Be suspicious and paranoid
- Be uncomfortable or anxious in social situations due to their distrust of others
- Have few friends
- Be very uncomfortable with intimacy
- Tend to misinterpret reality or to have distorted perceptions (for example, mistaking noises for voices)
- Have odd beliefs or magical thinking (for example, being overly superstitious or thinking of themselves as psychic)
- Be preoccupied with fantasy and daydreaming
- Tend to be stiff and awkward when relating to others
- Come across as emotionally distant, aloof, or cold
- Have limited emotional responses or seem “flat”
No drug works for every person, and weed can indeed be a dangerous substance for those with mental illness issues.