My son, now 21 years old, began using marijuana at age 16 because he said, “it relaxes me.” My husband and I told him he could not get his driver’s license until he was clean. We had no idea how strong the marijuana was, and how it would affect his developing brain. He got clean a year later so he could drive.
Soon after, we learned later, he began using again. He began to have fewer friends, stopped doing what he loved doing, and at age 18 began hearing voices. We were unaware of this reaction for some that use marijuana. He became increasingly difficult to talk to and acted like we were his enemies. It came to a head when he was 18 and we were seeking ways to get him admitted to a drug treatment program. That night, after my husband and I met with a drug counselor, we noticed checks missing from several accounts we had. The total was over $1,200.00. My husband was home with him and my son began to accuse him of many things that had no validity. This child, who got mostly A’s in academic classes and A’s in citizenship was a completely different person in less than 3 years. He was paranoid, delusional, and out of control.
My husband called the sheriff. Thankfully we got a man who was compassionate and decided to take him to a hospital instead of jail for the theft. He spent the next 6 weeks nearly mute and unable to respond to any medications that might help him. We learned later that he was severely traumatized by the ride with the sheriff, the hospital stay, and the ambulance ride to the mental hospital. Either my husband or I visited my son every day and he would not talk. It was heartbreaking.
When he was finally released we gave him firm boundaries that if he were to live with us, no drugs or alcohol. He is now almost 3 years clean from marijuana, but his ability to think has been greatly compromised. We even had a brain scan to determine if he had schizophrenia, but his brain did not look like a schizophrenic brain. There is no family history of schizophrenia. We are on a long, difficult journey that we never imagined we would have to take, all because he thought marijuana was natural and safe to use. It’s not. I would warn anyone who thinks Prop 64 is a good idea to consider the reaction of our precious young people, and how it would send a message to them that this is a safe alternative to other drugs or alcohol. Bad idea. Think how many other families would suffer. They might not have insurance like we did. Then our society would have to pay. A lot. Vote an emphatic “no” on Prop 64. Our whole society will benefit.
From a Concerned Mom in California
The outcome to this story is very similar to another. Timing and situation is a little different. Please read from the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids website, a post of Oct. 17, 2016: “My daughter started using dabs and I can tell you she ended up in the hospital catatonic. For years she used medical marijuana and had no issues. Now she has a hard time with talking, and can’t function well. She can’t even write her name. They ran extensive tests and the only thing they found in her system was the THC from the Dabs. I will not preach about this but you should consider looking into what you are doing to your mind and body as people that are making the wax can add crap to the dabs and cause damage to the person smoking it. As a mother will tell you it is a horrible thing to see your daughter at 27 years old not be able to function as a normal human being due to smoking dabs. You can say all you want but this is a very true fact. I would tell you I have no issue with anyone smoking the normal way but this has taken life to a different level and you should be very scared.” This mom is wrong to think there is no issue to smoking the normal way. Timing of catatonia or schizophrenia will be different for different people. Here’s the source: http://www.drugfree.org/news-service/dea-cracks-down-on-potent-marijuana-product-called-wax-in-california/
Here is another comment from same website. And yes this is from the DABs and the parents need to get him help and addiction treatment.
“We visited my 22 year old step-son in May and he openly smoked dab in front of us, every hour or so. The two occasions we saw him, he had violent diarrhea after eating. He dismissed as a stomach bug. 2 months ago, he called his mom and admitted that he was very sick and scared. She took him to a holistic chiropractor who diagnosed him with a stomach parasite and an allergy to corn syrup. We begged her to get him to an emergency room where he was admitted and diagnosed as diabetic with no evidence of parasites. He has now had chronic diarrhea for 8 months. He is 6’2″ and weighs 112 lbs. He does not have the strength to walk a block. They refuse to tell his doctors that he has been smoking dab for 2 years. His Mom says that she was unaware of how often till she spent the night, he had to get up every 2 hours to smoke. He has had unlimited access to dab and the money to buy it for 2 years. He is rarely leaves the house and has done nothing for the last 2 months but assemble Lego sets. His Mom had brought him back from where he was living and gave him her house, it is filled with Legos. We are powerless to get him into rehab and we really want to know what this dab has done to him. There is no history of diabetes in his family and I fear that at best he will end up with a colostomy bag and at worst more organs will fail. I suspect the ingestion of butane and contaminates as much or more than the THC. I cannot find much information on side effects and fear that he will become the poster boy for the dangers of dab. If any one has any information or has seen anything like this in users, please comment.”