this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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Teens have access to vastly more potent cannabis than their parents had at their age. Parents need to understand the risks, including psychosis

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[–] scathliath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 hour ago

Lmfao, what if we started smoking the green because of low grade psychosis? Chicken or egg that.

[–] blargle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 hours ago

Teens have access to vastly more potent cannabis than their parents had at their age

Oh FFS. I've been hearing this same bullshit for the last 25 years and it's still irrational Reefer Madness conservative fearmongering.

So what? If anything, more potent weed is less harmful because you are putting a smaller amount of burned plant material into your lungs to get the same effect.

It's not like people just... consume one marijuana and however high that gets you, that's what you're going with today. No, you're going to continue smoking until you get sufficiently stoned and then stop and put it out.

It doesn't take long for anyone to figure out how high is too high and how much it takes to get there, and plan accordingly.

It might be a vape pen with 92% THC hash oil in it so you take a couple of sippy little puffs and get mildly buzzed and you're fine with that. Or conversely you can pack up a handful of that leafy brown prohibition-era crap and do gravity bongs until you cough your lungs out, and get a lot higher, because that was your goal.

They sell those oil-soaked kif-encrusted joints here. You do not want to finish one in one sitting. The point of these isn't to get insanely baked, it's that one good hit will do it and you can put it out and save it in the glass jar it came in.

As others have explained already- if you have the kind of brain prone to psychosis, weed is likely to push you over the edge- and that's likely to happen when you're a teenager, because lots of people try it at that age- but something else would have triggered it a few years later. And yes it's just universally worse for adolescent brains. It is already illegal, everywhere it's legal, for people under 21, which is reasonable. But parents need to parent.

The idea that we can and should protect the kids who are predisposed to go schizo by keeping the available cannabis weak enough that no one can smoke enough of it to ever get really high is just absurd when you phrase it that way but that's exactly what anyone pushing this "It's so much more potent now!" pearl-cluching FUD is trying to sell you.

[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago

The link between diabetics and insulin is real

[–] LoveSausage@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 7 hours ago

Cannabis doesn't do it. I need a sledgehammer to my pinal gland please

[–] perestroika@lemm.ee 25 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

As a someone who studied biology: at an early age, you don't want more neuroplasticity. You already have enough. More may do you harm, and cannabis gives more, so cannabis may do you harm.

When you're 70 and your neural networks are set in stone, do consider what could safely increase neuroplasticity. But whatever you consume, don't consume it by inhaling smoke. :)

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world -3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

~~Calling bullshit on this one.~~

edit: misread

[–] kevin2107@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] drmoose@lemmy.world -4 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Op saying that 70 year people don't need neuro plasticity is one of the dumbest things I've read today and I've been on Reddit.

[–] troistigrestristes@lemmy.eco.br 5 points 3 hours ago

OP said the exact opposite of that

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That’s not what OP wrote though.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

oh right, my bad. That was quite a spaghetti of a sentence tho

[–] Psythik@lemm.ee -5 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

I don't understand why teens want to drink, smoke weed, and take drugs so badly, anyway. (Shitty friends peer pressuring them?) Just wait until your 20s like I did; it's not difficult.

[–] Geobloke@lemm.ee 2 points 42 minutes ago

Wow, you solved it. Now all you need to do is give that spiel and all teenagers will become straight A students

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 2 points 51 minutes ago

Its quite simple. They make quite a lot of fun and also because they give you the possibility to escape the dystopian world we live in.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Kids want to escape from their dysfunctional families or trauma or whatever other adversities they’re experiencing and they don’t have a support system to show them healthy coping.

[–] Psythik@lemm.ee 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

As someone who was raised by narcissists with anger issues, I can understand that argument. Still waited until my mid 20s, though, because I didn't want to screw up my developing brain.

That said, I'm still fucked in the head from childhood trauma. On second thought, maybe it would have been worth it to sacrifice some brain cells for a little escape from my family...

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

There are many ways to act out. Drugs, rage, alcoholism, sex, shopping, gambling etc.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 152 points 1 day ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (14 children)

I worked inpatient psych for a long time, and can tell you first-hand the link between psychosis and cannabis is real. No, this does not mean "if you smoke weed you're going to get psychotic!" What it does mean is that if you're someone with a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia (e.g. you have a known family history) weed is a potential trigger for a psychotic episode. If someone has already developed schizophrenia, smoking weed can make their symptoms worse and more difficult to manage with medications.

80% of people coming through the psych hospital, whatever, I don't care if you smoke weed. Honestly, I wish people would smoke weed rather than use meth, K2, or a bunch of other drugs that fuck people up. But for that subset of people prone to psychotic episodes, the conversation centers around "some people can smoke weed and be fine, and you are not one of those people."

The most common ages for men to develop first episode psychosis are 18-25, and while it's dumb that this article focuses on teenagers, the risk in that age group is genuinely higher. This article really is dumb overall and does not explain any of this well

[–] MelonYellow@lemmy.ca 11 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Hey I work in inpatient psych too and want to back you up. It’s totally a known observation that patients have been coming in younger and younger. And it’s very common to see a history of drug use of some kind (yeah usually for kids it’s weed, if not polysubstance).

Sad to see because once they start coming back to the hospital a few times, it’s like they’re in the system so to speak. Too many kids don’t break out of that cycle. I always discharge kids like, “I hope to never see you again. Don’t come back here” lol.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 19 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

The article, most of all, misses that it's about CBD to THC ratio, not raw overall cannabinoid content. CBD is an antipsychotic and on the cusp of getting the stamp of approval for treating schizophrenia. Strains on the street, in the meantime, have been bred for THC at the expense of CBD because it's THC which gives a head-high, makes consumers believe they got strong stuff.

The deeper question, overall, is why we live in a society which prompts people to take anxiolytics to cope.

[–] Hazor@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

I also work inpatient psych, doing admission evaluations. Anecdotally, it seems like my patients who report using synthetics and distillates get the worst psychotic symptoms while under the influence. I'm guessing the delta-8 edibles and vaporizers they're buying legally from local shops probably contain no CBD at all.

[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

I smoked heavily in college, now I do like two hits of a joint once in a while because it was giving me anxiety attacks.

I never been so fucked up as when I tried HHC thinking it was like CBD, and when I say fucked up I mean FUCKED UP, like suicidal ideation, deep depressive toughs, disconnect from reality and so on.

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[–] Djehngo@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

Just to add to your (excellent) comment; in the UK you can be prescribed medical marijuana but it has to be done by a consultant level doctor and a multi disciplinary trial. The most important disqualifying factor is any history of psychosis, if they see that on your medical records they will not write you a prescription.

So I would a assume there is some published medical literature they are following which states cannabis exacerbates the symptoms of psychosis.

[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I switched from drinking too much alcohol too often (wine, beer, etc) to occasionally dry vaping weed about 8 years ago. And from my mental and physical perspective it was a extreme shift to the better.

So I would even include alcohol in your list.

And I wouldn't let my kids use weed as long as long as I am capable to control that aspect.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 10 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Alcohol can make you feel like shit and can do great damage if used too often, but meth and K2 can fuck someone's brain up after even one use due to lack of quality control

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[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 124 points 1 day ago (36 children)

This article blows. “Genetically modifying” cannabis for higher THC content? You mean breeding, like every other plant grown for consumption?

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