Psychosis and Suicide: We Need to Talk About Weed
Psychosis and Suicide: We Need to Talk About Weed
Weed is responsible for much worse things than a bad case of “the munchies.” It's a dangerous drug that will continue to ruin an increasing number of lives.
Marijuana joints are seen in a file photo
Commentary
Marijuana, cannabis, pot, weed—call it what you will, the psychoactive drug is incredibly popular. This is especially true in the United States, where weed is big business. A staggering 16 percent of Americans—roughly 54 million—admit to smoking weed. In 2021, 13 percent said they smoked the drug.
According to a recent Brightfield Group report, the annual revenue of the U.S. weed industry is estimated to reach $31.8 billion by the end of the year. By 2028, the industry is expected to be worth $50.7 billion. In New York City alone, legal marijuana appears set to become a $1.2 billion-a-year industry.
In recent times, the push to legalize recreational weed across the country has gained momentum—even though Republicans are desperately pushing back. As I hope to show in this piece, very little, if anything, good comes from the use of weed. Contrary to popular belief, it's a dangerous drug with very few (again, if any) positives attached.
During a recent appearance on Fox News, Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser to three former presidents—Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—warned that mass legalization of weed is strongly linked with the sharp rise in various mental health problems, including psychosis. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) warns that “cannabis use is associated with an increased risk for an earlier onset of psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia) in people with other risk factors, such as family history.”
Moreover, according to the NIDA, cannabis intoxication can also induce temporary psychotic episodes in some individuals, especially when taken at high doses. The weed of today—it’s important to note—is many times stronger than the weed of yesteryear. This is because today’s weed contains greater quantities of THC, the main psychoactive compound that produces the infamous sensation of being “high.” In the 1960s, for example, when cannabis really started to penetrate U.S. culture, weed had a THC content of just 2 percent. Today, the THC content of weed and its derivatives is anywhere between 15 percent and 90 percent.
Is it any surprise that roughly 1 in 11 weed users are likely to become addicted? After all, high-potency weed increases the chances of becoming addicted. It also increases the chances of experiencing a psychotic episode.
Mr. Sabet also discussed the troubling link between weed consumption and the increased risk of suicide. Indeed, studies clearly demonstrate that weed use, particularly among younger individuals, is associated with increased risks of suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempts. This may have something to do with the fact that until the age of 25, a person’s prefrontal cortex—the area of the brain responsible for rational thinking—hasn’t yet fully formed. Weed use is associated with thinning of the prefrontal cortex. In short, greater use of weed brings greater levels of cortical thinning.
Weed use creates a vicious cycle of dependency, abuse, and addiction. Reliable data shows that as many as 30 percent of Americans who use the drug may have some type of weed-related disorder.
Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist who treats individuals addicted to the drug, told me, “The more that marijuana use is glamorized by the media and politicians, and purported to be safe, the more problems I am seeing related to use.”
Mr. Alpert stressed the fact that weed users tend to be “more depressed, more anxious, less motivated, and less able to focus and get tasks done” than nonusers. “Not until it is brought to their attention do they connect the dots and realize that pot actually hurts, not helps, their mental health,” he said.
As more and more Americans turn to weed for comfort, expect levels of depression and anxiety to increase.
A 2022 study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that people reporting serious psychological distress are more likely to be weed users. As I alluded to above, compulsive use of weed can lead to the development of cannabis use disorder, a crippling condition that's associated with a lack of control over consumption of the drug. Not surprisingly, this impairment leads to a deterioration in psychological, physical, and/or social functioning.
Commenting on the study, Vladimir Hedrih, a psychology professor, noted that the “share of population suffering from cannabis use disorder and the consumption of cannabis in general have been steadily increasing in the past two decades as more states decriminalized or legalized the use of cannabis. This has also been helped by the fact that the perception of risks of cannabis use has decreased in the general population and the attitudes toward its use became more permissive.”
Worryingly, an increasing number of pregnant women in the United States are using weed. Although previous studies have shown that prenatal weed exposure can hinder the normal development of a fetus, a new study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, found that prenatal exposure to weed—specifically THC—can have life-lasting, deleterious effects on cognitive and memory functions.
As for the idea that weed helps those suffering with PTSD, the evidence suggests otherwise. Studies show that weed consumption can actually make trauma-related symptoms orders of magnitude worse. Like painkillers and alcohol, weed does absolutely nothing to address the root cause of the psychic pain.
Although mainstream culture enjoys glamorizing weed, and celebs such as Bill Maher and Joe Rogan regularly wax lyrical about it, there's nothing "cool" about the drug. It's not harmless. In truth, weed is responsible for much worse things than a bad case of “the munchies.” It's a dangerous drug that will continue to ruin an increasing number of Americans' lives.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. He covers psychology and social relations, and has a keen interest in social dysfunction and media manipulation. His work has been published by the New York Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, National Review, and The Spectator US, among others.
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