When Hamza Warsame fell six floors to his death in December, 2015, the social media was abuzz with suggestions of a hate crime against the Muslim teen. Warsame, an immigrant from Somalia, was living in Seattle and had been invited to the 21-year-old classmate’s apartment.
Hamza Warsame. The 16-year-old killed himself after using only once, a reflection of the high potency of today’s pot.
However, the news came out that Warsame had smoked marijuana for the first time and had a psychotic reaction. He may have tried to jump to the next building’s roof. It wasn’t legal for a 16- year-old to smoke marijuana. But Washington is a marijuana state, and his 21-year-old classmate had bought it legitimately at a dispensary. (Signs along the highways of Washington warn that it’s illegal to buy or give alcohol to those under age 21. There should be similar warnings for marijuana.)
Warsame’s death was from smoking today’s high potency ganja, not the edibles. At least two young men, Luke Goodman, 23, and Levy Thamba, 19, killed themselves in Colorado after eating marijuana edibles which made them psychotic. In Colorado, edibles first went on sale for recreational purposes beginning in January, 2014. Many people read about New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s experience with marijuana. A mother also wrote a New York Times column about that marijuana chocolate bar that put her son on suicide watch.
Less well known are the stories of Brant Clark and Daniel Juarez, featured on a CBS News Report of May, 2015. High potency pot has been the norm in Colorado since the early 2000s. Psychosis and hallucinations occur quite frequently. These teens became psychotic and killed themselves — before Coloradans voted to legalize recreational marijuana.
Tron Dohse, from the website of CBS4 News Photo of Daniel Juarez on top is also from the CBS affiliate in Denver.
Tron Dohse was a young adult featured in the same evening news report that reported about Clark and Juarez. He overdosed on marijuana and fell to his death while trying to climb a building.
As one Colorado resident said, “If residents had known the horror story of why Daniel Juarez death in 2012, they never would have voted to legalize.” (Juarez’s photo is on top of the page.)
More Recent Suicides
More recently, there were the marijuana-related suicides Marc Bullard and Rashaan Salaam in Colorado. (These are the stories that made the news, so we don’t mention recent suicides from pot not in the news.) Salaam was 41, a former Heisman Trophy winner. He had a promising football career until 1999, when he lost his energy and began spending time smoking pot. He never got his life back and when he died there was 55 ng. of THC in his blood.
Like Salaam, Marc Bullard was living in Colorado at the time of his death. The Texas native had been a high school valedictorian, a successful college student and had landed a dream job. However, he had moved to Colorado and was doing dabs. In his journal, he recorded the downward spiral of depression and his inability to stop doing marijuana dabs. He was 23.
A landmark study published in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal, September, 2014, tracked teenage marijuana use in Australia and New Zealand. The subjects were tested for a variety of outcomes by age 30. The evidence showed that consistent early use below age 18 is connected to 7x the risk of attempted suicide before age 30.
Not all suicide attempts are successful. But it is shocking and traumatizes a family when someone attempts suicide. Parent have written of these events and how it affects their families, I wish We had Never Moved Here and My Son’s Psychiatric Surprise. Another striking story of survival is on the MomsStrong.org website. Part 2 will explain more about the suicide risk with marijuana. Part 3 will have more specific information about marijuana victims Daniel Juarez, Levy Thamba, Andy Zorn and Shane Robinson.
More than 16 news articles from 8/16/16 through 10/23/16 reveal a virtual feeding frenzy among Maryland state legislators, marijuana bureaucrats and would-be pot contractors squabbling over access to profits from the federally-illegal addictive dangerous child brain poison, marijuana being falsely promoted as “medicine” under recent drug-trafficker-friendly Maryland state laws.
Examples of such corrupt pro-drug legislative activities are illustrated in the Washington Post’s 9/23/16 article titled: “Delegate’s medical pot roles reviewed.”
But two recent official federal government reports categorically confirm from numerous scientific studies that smoked marijuana is not medicine but instead is a dangerous Schedule 1 drug that endangers the health and safety of users, especially youths. And is a major gateway drug to addiction to other deadly drugs.
And the new November 2016 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Addiction stated categorically “None of the permitted uses under state laws alters the status of marijuana and its constituent compounds as illicit drugs under Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act.”
Additionally, the Surgeon General’s report stated, “Marijuana use, in adolescents in particular, can cause negative neurological effects. Long-term, regular use starting in the young adult years may impair brain development and functioning… And marijuana use—particularly long-term, chronic use or use starting at a young age—can also lead to dependence and addiction.”
Further, annual national drug overdose death rates currently reported by the CDC, are skyrocketing at all-time high levels and increasing rapidly. To illustrate the enormity of this U.S. drug death plague, if caskets of the 500 victims ofdrug-related deaths that occur daily in the U.S. were stacked up alongside the Washington Monument, they would extend to nearly twice the height of that monument!
From our direct experience with this drug holocaust among our children typically beginning with marijuana, we Parents published a full page ad in the 1/23/17 Washington Times offering specific suggestions for federal legislation to fix that urgent and growing national public health crisis.
Therefore, we Maryland Parents urge our Governor and State Legislators to immediately recognize the imminent danger to all Maryland citizens from this unprecedented drug overdose death public health crisis and end the drug-money fueled attempts to create and promote a federally-illegal marijuana industry in Maryland. And instead adopt protective legislation such as those suggested in our Washington Times ad.
Otherwise those of you who continue to support the current headlong rush to enable and promote a federally-illegal marijuana industry in Maryland, will be shamefully responsible for continuing the dope-money-fueled destruction of our children, families, schools and communities throughout this State.
DeForest Rathbone is a Board Member, Parents Affected By Addiction (PABA). He can be reached in Leonardtown, MD, 301-994-2733, [email protected]
Editor’s Note: Last week the Police Chief of Prince George’s County Maryland announced a marked increase in crime due to the decriminalization of marijuana.
First Time Marijuana Use Can Result in Crippling Mental Illness
On February 2, 2017, Psychiatrist.com published the case of a 20-year old man who went into psychosis from first time marijuana use. The paper reveals: “Several first-time, non-chronic cannabis users have presented to our clinic with psychosis or thought disorders lasting months after first- or second-time cannabis use.” The authors work at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Why do some people have a predisposition for psychosis and schizophrenia from marijuana use? It can’t entirely be explained coming from a family with history of mental illness. Another case study of a young man with bipolar had no family history for mental illness. His diagnosis of bipolar disorder seems uniquely connected to the marijuana use. These cases are familiar to families involved with Parents Opposed to Pot.
Some research suggests that those with the c/c variant of the AKT1 gene are more susceptible to schizophrenia if they use marijuana. Those with the Val/Val or Val/Met variants of the COMT gene appear more likely to be susceptible than those with the Met/Met variant of COMT. Other variables include age of starting to use pot, frequency of use and the strength of the marijuana.
Seriously, how many young people know their AKT1 and COMT gene variations before they start using marijuana? And there are many additional genetic factors, yet to be isolated, that clearly contribute to susceptibility in others.
Why isn’t NORML, Marijuana Policy Project or Drug Policy Action educating youth about these hidden risk factors? It can ruin someone’s life if they use marijuana and it turns out they are one of the unfortunate. NORML has always known of this link to schizophrenia. Drug Policy Action dismisses at current science with an evasive explanation on their website.
A comprehensive study from Finland suggests the risk with marijuana for a chronic schizophrenia spectrum disorder from marijuana use is far greater than with any other drug.
Anyways, genetics isn’t foolproof either. Many women still get breast cancer even if they don’t have the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene variations known to raise susceptibility. The best option for avoiding a mental health disorder related to marijuana is complete avoidance of marijuana.
Currently, the average strength of marijuana sold in Colorado and Washington is more than 20% THC. This means it is 5-10 times stronger than the marijuana of the ’70s and ’80s. One Washington hospital announced last April that it has 1-2 new psychosis patients every day. Legal, regulated markets increase rather than decrease the risk.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana has the Answer for Senator Warren
Last year Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the CDC if marijuana can be used to fight the opioid epidemic. There’s an answer in Smart Approaches to Marijuana’s recent publication, its educational toolkit for 2017. The publication refers to academic studies which suggest that marijuana primes the brain for other types of drug usage, alcohol and heroin. Here’s the summary on that subject from page 4, Marijuana and Other Drugs: A Link We Can’t Ignore :
MORE THAN FOUR in 10 people who ever use marijuana will go on to use other illicit drugs, per a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.(1) The CDC also says that marijuana users are three times more likely to become addicted to heroin.(2)
Although 92% of heroin users first used marijuana before going to heroin, less than half used painkillers before going to heroin.
And according to the seminal 2017 National Academy of Sciences report, “There is moderate evidence of a statistical association between cannabis use and the development of substance dependence and/or a substance abuse disorder for substances including alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs.”(3)
RECENT STUDIES WITH animals also indicate that marijuana use is connected to use and abuse of other drugs. A 2007 Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology study found that rats given THC later self administered heroin as adults, and increased their heroin usage, while those rats that had not been treated with THC maintained a steady level of heroin intake.(4) Another 2014 study found that adolescent THC exposure in rats seemed to change the rodents’ brains, as they subsequently displayed “heroin-seeking” behavior. Youth marijuana use could thus lead to “increased vulnerability to drug relapse in adulthood.”(5)
The National Institutes of Health says that research in this area is “consistent with animal experiments showing THC’s ability to ‘prime’ the brain for enhanced responses to other drugs. For example, rats previously administered THC show heightened behavioral response not only when further exposed to THC, but also when exposed to other drugs such as morphine—a phenomenon called cross-sensitization.”(6)
Suggestions that one addictive substance replaces another ignores the problem of polysubstance abuse, the common addiction of today.
ADDITIONALLY, THE MAJORITY of studies find that marijuana users are often polysubstance users, despite a few studies finding limited evidence that some people substitute marijuana for opiate medication. That is, people generally do not substitute marijuana for other drugs. Indeed, the National Academy of Sciences report found that “with regard to opioids, cannabis use predicted continued opioid prescriptions 1 year after injury. Finally, cannabis use was associated with reduced odds of achieving abstinence from alcohol, cocaine, or polysubstance use after inpatient hospitalization and treatment for substance use disorders” [emphasis added].(7)
Moreover, a three-year 2016 study of adults also found that marijuana compounds problems with alcohol. Those who reported marijuana use during the first wave of the survey were more likely than adults who did not use marijuana to develop an alcohol use disorder within three years.(8) Similarly, alcohol consumption in Colorado has increased slightly since legalization. (9)
Senator Warren, you’re deeply respected by youth. You could be a powerful spokesperson by advocating for them not to use drugs. The problem is that — for some young people — that critical first choice to use a drug turns into a game of Russian Roulette.
Parents who lost children to drugs overwhelmingly insist their children initiated drug use with marijuana and alcohol. Marijuana advocates insist marijuana is “not a gateway” drug, but studies show otherwise. Marijuana is a gateway to other drugs for 40+ percent of those who start using pot. It is never wise to substitute one drug of addiction for another drug of addiction. Please consider that not everyone who becomes addicted to opiates started because of pain. Many started for fun. According to a Jon Daily of Recovery Happens, most begin pain pill abuse because their relationship with intoxication began as a relationship with marijuana and/or alcohol.
There are many other ways to treat the opiate epidemic: better prevention programs, mandating education in the schools and clamping down on internet sellers of these drugs. Studies claiming fewer overdose deaths occur in marijuana states need to consider the availability of suboxone, other drugs to counter the overdose.
Senator Warren, please check out Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which advocates an alternative to legalization which does not include incarceration. In our next article, Senator Warren, we will discuss the marijuana-mental illness links………… once again.
FOOTNOTES:
Secades-Villa R, Garcia-Rodríguez O, Jin CJ, Wang S, Blanco C Probability and predictors of the cannabis gateway effect: a national study. Int J Drug Policy. 2015;26(2):135-142
2. Centers for Disease Control. Today’s heroin epidemic Infographics more people at risk, multiple drugs abused. CDC, 7 July 2015.
3. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health andPublic Health Practice; Committee on the Health Effects of Marijuana: An Evidence Review and Research Agenda (“2017 NAS Report”).
4. Ellgren, Maria et al. “Adolescent Cannabis Exposure Alters Opiate Intake and Opioid Limbic Neuronal Populations in Adult Rats.”Neuropsychopharmacology 32.3 (2006): 607–615.
5. Stropponi, Serena et al. Chronic THC during adolescence increases the vulnerability to stress-induced relapse to heroin seeking in adult rats. European Neuropsychopharmacology Volume 24 , Issue 7 (2014), 1037 – 1045.
6. “Is marijuana a gateway drug?” National Institute on Drug Abuse. Jan. 2017. See also Panlilio LV, Zanettini C, Barnes C, Solinas M, Goldberg SR. Prior exposure to THC increases the addictive effects of nicotine in rats. Neuropsychopharmacol Off Publ Am Coll Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013;38(7):1198-1208; Cadoni C, Pisanu A, Solinas M, Acquas E, Di Chiara G. Behavioural sensitization after repeated exposure to Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cross-sensitization with morphine. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2001;158(3):259-266.
7. 2017 NAS report.
8. Weinberger AH, Platt J, Goodwin RD. Is cannabis use associated with an increased risk of onset and persistence of alcohol use disorders? A three-year prospective study among adults in the United States. Drug Alcohol Depend. February 2016.
9. Rocky Mountain HIDTA Investigative Support Center Strategic Intelligence Unit. The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact, Volum
