Category Archives: Mental Health

Featured, Mental Health

Poisoned by the Weed, Part 3

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(Read Part 1 and Part 2)  On July 6, 2012, three years ago today, Skylar Neese was brutally murdered by the two girls who had been her best friends freshman year of high school. The three girls began smoking pot together 21 months earlier. Shelia Eddy was quite depressed, but wild and rebellious. Her stepfather bought her a car which she used when sneaking out at night to smoke pot.

In early 2013, before she stopped using Twitter, Shelia Eddy posted several tweets about getting stoned.  Prophetically, she even stated: “this generation is fucked. imagine what it’ll be like when our kids have kids.”  Isn’t she referencing the damage to young brains on pot? Continue reading Poisoned by the Weed, Part 3 →

Featured, Mental Health

Friendship Triangle Turns into Murder, Part 2

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(Read Part I for background information on Pretty Little Killers, by Daleen Beery and Geoffrey C Fuller, about the murder of Skylar Neese.)

Why would this sad set of circumstances happen to girls from wild and wonderful West Virginia, where people still live in friendly, small-town communities?  Skylar lived in Star City, right outside of Morgantown, home of West Virginia University.  Families who had lived in the area for generations mixed with the international student body.  It was not a sheltered environment. Can we possibly understand how it happened so that other parents don’t go through the incomprehensible suffering of Dave and Mary Neese?

The three girls had much in common as only children of adoring parents who struggled financially. They were excellent students, but Skylar was undoubtedly the smartest. The book mentions that Continue reading Friendship Triangle Turns into Murder, Part 2 →

Featured, Mental Health

Poisoned by the Weed: Marijuana and Pretty Little Killers, Part 1

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Why did Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf kill Skylar Neese on July 6, 2012? Authors Daleen Berry and Geoffrey C. Fuller explored the shocking incident in Pretty Little Killers, a New York Times bestseller.  The book come to no definite conclusions why two 16-year-old girls from West Virginia would brutally murder another friend, but marijuana is a constant theme from beginning to end. Marijuana, pot and/or weed, is mentioned 36 times in the book.

The authors had been given access to Skylar’s journals and writings, looking for clues as to how and why such an event could happen.  Continue reading Poisoned by the Weed: Marijuana and Pretty Little Killers, Part 1 →

Mental Health, News Articles

Time to Recognize Pot as Part of Mental Health Problem

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H.R. 2646 Calls for Mental Health Care Reform

Eddie Bernice Johnson
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas and Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds held a press hearing on June 16, 2015, to announce a comprehensive new mental health bill, H.R. 2646.   Patrick Kennedy, son of Senator Ted Kennedy, is a co-founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), with Kevin Sabet.

Our criminal justice system is under fire.  The lack of adequate mental health care is in the news.  The mistreatment of the mentally ill who are incarcerated is also coming under scrutiny. Prevention through a comprehensive school drug education program in the United States could greatly diminish all three of these problems. Continue reading Time to Recognize Pot as Part of Mental Health Problem →