[Ksman]

Worried and frustrated newbie here. On July 1 & 2 I began receiving texts from my son (25 years old) asking me to come get him and protect him.

July 2nd I received a call from Police saying he had called 911 and was asking for help but was not a danger to himself or anyone else. They asked me to come get him.

I made a 5 hour drive and found him sitting in the dark staring at a surveillance camera terrified that his girlfriend was going to return and harm him.

I drove him 5 hours back home and then spent the first few days dealing with his fear of people on our roof, surrounding our house, controling our utilities, etc, etc, etc. We have taken him to the ER for tests which showed high levels of THC. He also admitted to use of pottpourri.

He has seen a counselor and psychatrist since them. He was placed on one medicine that he hated. Then a second that made him sick and now he has gotten to the point where he is loud, rude and hateful.

Nobody has offered advice or support. Just here's some meds and good luck. Here are appointments set up every few weeks and bring him back then.

Tired, confused and fed up.

Welcome!

[Chemar]

Sorry to hear of what your son (and family) is going through

I see you have posted in our addictions forum as well, but also wanted to point you to our other site, where you may find a lot more input on this

Psych Central Addictions forum http://forums.psychcentral.com/addictions/

I do hope things get better for your son

[Dr. Smith]

Welcome Ksman,

I have read your other posts. Addiction to marijuana is possible (1 in 10 chronic/habitual users, much less in occasional users), but less common than some other substances.

Dr. Jack E. Henningfield of [National Institute on Drug Abuse] ranked the relative addictiveness of 6 substances (cannabis, caffeine, cocaine, alcohol, heroin and nicotine). Cannabis ranked least addictive, with caffeine the second least addictive and nicotine the most.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_dependence

I think that your son's psychosis is more likely a result of the potpourri (synthetic cannabis, a.k.a. spice) than the real marijuana, and that his talking about "needing" THC and CBD may be his way (or belief in a way) of self-medicating what the synthetic stuff does -- or has done -- to him.

If you are not familiar with these substances, I think your best chance of helping your son is to learn the scientific truth about them (not the hype/propaganda). There is a lot of information available on the web, but I would caution you to filter it carefully, as there is as much or more dis/mis-information as credible scientific information floating around out there.

Here are a few articles as starting points, though I would urge you to delve deeper.

Cannabis (drug)
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
Cannabidiol (CBD)
Cannabis dependence

Synthetic cannabis
Spice side effects

Best Wishes,

Doc