My Daughter Suffered Paranoia and Psychosis from “Medical” Marijuana

My daughter is in her thirties.  A friend who was a recovering drug addict introduced her to marijuana. She started experimenting with pot after high school. I didn’t know about it at the time, only found out years later. She said it brought up memories and was sort of traumatic for her.

She started seeing a therapist.  And, eventually, she was recommended a medical marijuana card. I still don’t know the diagnosis. She was smoking marijuana occasionally before that, but once she got the card she started smoking large amounts of pot. She was telling me strange things, things that didn’t make sense. I thought ‘this is really odd.’ The next time we visited she was very secretive. She was dressed nicely and seemed to be taking care of herself, as normal. But it was our conversation that was unnerving.  She took me outside to the woods nearby to speak, because she suspected there were hidden cameras all over her home. “Mom, I am being spied upon.” She was convinced she was being observed from space.

She was depressed and confessed to smoking pot while she was pregnant. After the baby was born her mood was different, it seemed like post-partum depression.

Three years after she got her medi-pot card she was abusing “medical” marijuana (she was smoking up to 5 bowls, daily).  She suffered a severe psychotic break.

My next visit a few months later she was dressed in rags, neglecting her children.  I didn’t know how long it had been since she had taken a bath. The self-neglect was something I had never seen before. She screamed and yelled at her children, which she had also never done previously.

She began fantasizing about an extramarital affair.  Then she chopped off all her hair except for a long pony tail.  Convinced that people were out to get her and her children, she tried to explain to me “people are talking about me on Facebook.” She became violent toward her spouse, leaving him with cuts and bruises after her fits of rage. He never knew what would set her off, because she was like a time bomb.

One afternoon, she was pacing around the room, gesturing wildly and spouting off about “Q and The Plan.” She yelled at me, “I want to change the world.” It was very bizarre and scary behavior.

Her paranoia was incredible.  My daughter said repeatedly, “people are watching me.” She believed they were talking in code about her in Facebook. She was addicted to Facebook and wouldn’t stay off of it. It was an obsession. One time I found her hiding in a corner with the cell phone.

Her paranoia began to restrict her freedom of movement. She wouldn’t leave her property, then it got so bad she was afraid to leave her house, wouldn’t even step out the front door. She feared the people watching her, afraid that they might come kidnap her or take her children.

My daughter didn’t want to quit cannabis, but she no longer had access because she wouldn’t go into town to get it. Her husband helped by not getting the drug for her. Her paranoia got worse without the drug, but gradually she began to improve.

Fortunately, she is now distancing herself from the “Q conspiracy.” She no longer believes there is a child trafficking ring in her small town.  Her husband supports her recovery. Today, she spends time in the garden.  She is home schooling  the children, and encouraging them in their interests. She tends to the family pets and a backyard flock of chickens. We are watching her being restored to being a wife and mom. Yet, she still struggles with leaving their property, so even after two years there is a lingering effect of the paranoia.

Submitted by a concerned mother.