Beware perils of pot psychosis

A demonstrator smokes a marijuana joint on Parliament Hill in April 

2010. (PAWEL DWULIT / CP) 

 

PAUL BRIAN

Pot is potentially psychologically dangerous in the short and long-term in unpredictable and extreme ways.
Hopefully, Justin Trudeau will take the scientific evidence into account about the potential dangers of marijuana, including its ability to trigger panic attack disorders, anxiety, depression, paranoid psychosis and schizophrenia, before moving ahead with full legalization.

These risks are amplified if there’s a family history of mental illness. While the majority of adverse affects for users may range from minor memory loss or paranoia to lethargy, the more serious impacts of “bad trips” and negative reactions can be truly devastating.

Imagine feeling physically and mentally like you are dying after smoking pot and then waking up for the next five years feeling full of paranoia, disorientation and dissociation because it has triggered a psychosis and panic attack disorder.

Much material has been published about the health and potential mental benefits of medical marijuana. There’s also been muted criticism of legalization because of the danger that minors will get more access to the drug or that it will lead to overall social deterioration. It stands to reason, however, that the aspect of psychological dangers be fully investigated before the Liberal majority government moves ahead with its promise.

An Australian study last year found that daily pot users are up to seven times more likely to commit suicide, 60 per cent less likely to finish high school or to get a college degree and are eight times more likely to use illegal drugs later in life.

A 2015 British study cited in the Lancet medical journal found that daily pot users are five times more likely to develop psychosis. It further found that exposure to high-potency “skunk” marijuana was the largest single factor in the development of psychosis in the 461 mentally ill patients they assessed.

Nor has Colorado, which would serve as Canada’s model for legalization, enjoyed a smooth journey, with at least two deaths attributable to pot use, according to the New York Times, including a man who murdered his family after ingesting edible pot candies and another who became panicked and jumped off a balcony to his death.

Crime in Colorado has dropped, and obviously masses of people are not smoking pot and dying, but the state does have a full-fledged mental health crisis on its hands and its suicide rate has risen to the sixth-highest in the United States. Attributing that alarming statistic to pot use would be speculation at best, particularly as long-term data about rising ER visits and mental illness is not yet available, but it is worth noting a possible correlation in rising suicide rates and the more widespread use of pot in the state.

Colorado’s legalization has been a revenue windfall, as it would be for Canada, but at what psychological cost? One in three Canadians polled support legalization of pot, but what is concerning is the assumption, especially among many who have never really looked into pot or used it, that increased pot use is inherently benign. This broader attitude is what should really cause parents concern.

As for the false parallel pot advocates draw with alcohol, that’s another matter. Alcohol is more physically dangerous and certainly can contribute to a host of psychological difficulties, although it doesn’t tend to produce psychosis when a young adult first has two beers. Another problem is that the blood-alcohol levels can be easily measured in roadside tests, while the THC blood content from pot cannot be easily assessed.

Trudeau hasn’t elaborated on specifics of the legalization process and the timeline is unclear, although he has said it is one of his priorities.

The fact is that treating pot as just another regulated substance like alcohol or tobacco or a medicine like Tylenol is, simply put, absurd. Presumably, advocates of weed legalization are aware that the mental illnesses it can trigger last years and be very serious. That said, perhaps legalization will result in weed with lower THC content and stronger regulation, as well as public education, which would be a big plus. But if the media and government keep advancing the idea that it is basically harmless, we will all be poorly informed and youth will be in danger.

Assuming legalization for recreational purposes does go ahead, all products should carry a warning that marijuana is a powerful psychoactive substance causing unpredictable and sometimes alarming reactions.
Trudeau has said his research led him to the conclusion that pot is no more harmful than cigarettes or alcohol.

This is a deceptive statement, perhaps unintentionally so. Physically, it’s true, but psychologically, pot is far more unpredictable. The next time someone smokes a cigar and begins to feel that they’re about to die, do let us know, Justin.

A surprising amount of people either don’t know about the psychiatric dangers of pot or believe it can only happen to people who are already mentally unstable. That is not the case. Let’s see the coming debate as an opportunity for greater education.