I was talking to a friend today about doing drugs and the topic of drug psychosis came up, we both have friends who became mentally ill after smoking weed and I remembered this documentary I watched on the CBC a few years ago called "The Downside of High". Basically the movie followed the story of some teenagers in BC, Canada who used marijuana regularly then one day just snapped and ended up in mental hospitals.
I know a couple of guys who experienced this, they smoked pot regularly in their teenage years then one day went all funny and started acting all weird and saying the strangest shit. They would get all emotional and paranoid, eventually their parents got them into a hospital and they had to undergo therapy and counselling.
From the CBC article, "Teenagers who start smoking marijuana before the age of sixteen are four times more likely to become schizophrenic. That's the startling conclusion of some of the world's top schizophrenia experts, whose research is featured in the new documentary The Downside of High. The scientists' groundbreaking work on the connection between marijuana and mental illness also reveals that, for all young adults, smoking marijuana nearly doubles the risk of developing recurring psychosis, paranoia and hallucinations - the hallmarks of schizophrenia.
Ben was first introduced to marijuana while at a high school in BC. His increasingly psychotic behaviour led to a year-long hospitalization.
The Downside of High, directed and written by Bruce Mohun, tells the stories of three young people from British Columbia who believe - along with their doctors - that their mental illness was triggered by marijuana use. All three spent months in hospital psychiatric wards, and still wage a battle with their illness. Today's super-potent pot may be a big part of the problem. Modern growing techniques have dramatically increased the amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana - ramping up the threat to the developing teenage brain.
But there's an intriguing twist to the story: in the process of cultivating more potent strains of pot, growers have also been breeding out a little-known ingredient called cannabidiol that seems to buffer the effects of THC. So today's high-octane pot actually contains a double-whammy - more psychosis-producing THC, and less of the protective CBD or cannabidiol.
Tyler was 14 years old when he first started experiencing psychotic episodes.
For many people, smoking marijuana is not a big deal - it is, after all, the most widely-used illegal drug in the world. The Downside of High provides a scientific perspective on some of the little-known and little discussed risks of marijuana, particularly for teenagers."
Link to article: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureof...ideofhigh/
Link to video: (it wasn't working but may be because I'm in Asia) http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The...398511775/
Link to youtube preview video:
I'm not trying to scare people away from smoking weed, I do once in awhile, just wanted to see if any other guys out there had friends who went through the same thing. Its a shitty experience watching a close friend go through something like this.
I know a couple of guys who experienced this, they smoked pot regularly in their teenage years then one day went all funny and started acting all weird and saying the strangest shit. They would get all emotional and paranoid, eventually their parents got them into a hospital and they had to undergo therapy and counselling.
From the CBC article, "Teenagers who start smoking marijuana before the age of sixteen are four times more likely to become schizophrenic. That's the startling conclusion of some of the world's top schizophrenia experts, whose research is featured in the new documentary The Downside of High. The scientists' groundbreaking work on the connection between marijuana and mental illness also reveals that, for all young adults, smoking marijuana nearly doubles the risk of developing recurring psychosis, paranoia and hallucinations - the hallmarks of schizophrenia.
Ben was first introduced to marijuana while at a high school in BC. His increasingly psychotic behaviour led to a year-long hospitalization.
The Downside of High, directed and written by Bruce Mohun, tells the stories of three young people from British Columbia who believe - along with their doctors - that their mental illness was triggered by marijuana use. All three spent months in hospital psychiatric wards, and still wage a battle with their illness. Today's super-potent pot may be a big part of the problem. Modern growing techniques have dramatically increased the amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana - ramping up the threat to the developing teenage brain.
But there's an intriguing twist to the story: in the process of cultivating more potent strains of pot, growers have also been breeding out a little-known ingredient called cannabidiol that seems to buffer the effects of THC. So today's high-octane pot actually contains a double-whammy - more psychosis-producing THC, and less of the protective CBD or cannabidiol.
Tyler was 14 years old when he first started experiencing psychotic episodes.
For many people, smoking marijuana is not a big deal - it is, after all, the most widely-used illegal drug in the world. The Downside of High provides a scientific perspective on some of the little-known and little discussed risks of marijuana, particularly for teenagers."
Link to article: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureof...ideofhigh/
Link to video: (it wasn't working but may be because I'm in Asia) http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/The...398511775/
Link to youtube preview video:
I'm not trying to scare people away from smoking weed, I do once in awhile, just wanted to see if any other guys out there had friends who went through the same thing. Its a shitty experience watching a close friend go through something like this.