High potency marijuana highlights the risk of cannabis-induced psychiatric disorders
As more states legalize recreational cannabis products, there’s been greater consumer demand for more powerful weed, raising the possible risk of psychiatric disorders.
Anders Gilliand was just 17 years old when he started to lose contact with reality.
“He thought that there were higher beings that were communicating with him to tell him what to do or who he was,” said his mother, Kristin Gilliand, who lives in Nashville.
Her son, who had been using marijuana since he was 14 years old, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a chronic psychiatric disorder that can include symptoms like delusions, hallucinations and disorganized speech.
He started taking anti-psychotic medication but ultimately stopped because of the side effects he experienced. To try and quell the voices in his head, he began using heroin and died of an accidental drug overdose in 2019 when he was 22.
“If he had never started using cannabis, he might still be here,” said Gilliand, a neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. While there is a family history of schizophrenia, she believes that her son’s marijuana use led to psychotic episodes and triggered the condition.
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