Early one morning in February of 2018, we woke up to our son in full blown psychosis. My husband got on the computer and phone, looking for help, as I tried to keep our son calm. Somehow, we were able to get him to the local emergency room. I remember asking the attending physician if he had drugs in his system and she said, “only THC”. From there, he was admitted to a mental health facility, where he was diagnosed with bipolar 1.

None of this was making any sense. Four years earlier, our son was gearing up for high school graduation, where he also received his 2 year degree from community College. He was gifted in math and had plans to get a math degree and become an actuary. He never created any problems for us growing up. I mean, he wasn’t perfect, but he was a good, easy kid. He played soccer and loved to downhill ski. His teachers would tell me they wished all their students were like our son. He graduated with honors.

In the fall of 2014, he packed up and left for college. We started seeing a change after his first year. He seemed edgy. I just thought it was part of the growing up process. We also knew he was using alcohol and smoking Marijuana. There again, just part of growing up.

He graduated college in 2017. That summer he waffled around, didn’t seem interested in getting a job. He was “dabbing” in our garage. When I would confront him, he would say, “it’s just pot. It helps with anxiety. ” Little did we know the damage it was doing to his brain.

After his stay in the hospital, he continued to smoke and dab Marijuana. Throughout that year, he saw 3 different doctors. None of them seemed concerned about his drug use. It is legal and believed, by some, to be medicinal.

The summer of 2019, he went through 3 months of mania and ended up in jail for vandalism. The fourth doctor we met with, said he had Cannabis Induced Psychosis. She wanted him to be sober 6 months before she could look at any other diagnosis. She was a game changer!

Six months later, my son decided to quit the weed. We saw our son returning after a couple weeks and after 3 months, the voice in his head was gone. I wish I could say he has been sober ever since, but it has been a struggle and he has relapsed many times.

He just completed his second hospitalization and is four weeks sober. He is starting to dream again, starting to make sense of the voices and has longer moments of clarity. It will continue to be a long journey. And we are praying for a full recovery and healing of his beautiful brain.

Submitted by Mary M.