Why marijuana makes some people paranoid?
As I’ve mentioned previously, each person has different body chemistry and each strain of marijuana has its own unique chemistry, so combining the two can sometimes have unpredictable outcomes. Namely, a paranoia-fueled and a bad trip. Here’s some background on why marijuana makes some people paranoid.
Overdoing it
The main cause of a bad trip is overloading your body with THC, which does bad things to your amygdala, the part of your brain that regulates the response to fear-related emotions. The threshold for “overloading your body” is going to be different for everyone, but you’ll certainly know it when it happens. Among other things, you’ll experience an elevated heart rate and elevated blood pressure, which will lead to an anxiety spike, followed quickly by the dreaded paranoia.
If you really overdo it, you’re in for a bad time known as “Cannabis-Induced Psychosis Disorder.”
Cannabis-Induced Psychosis Disorder
“Psychosis” is a disconnection from reality. Symptoms include paranoia, crippling anxiety, hallucinations and delusions. As you’re likely aware, hallucinations are false sensory perceptions, like seeing, hearing, or smelling things that nobody else does. Delusions are false beliefs, like having superpowers or that people are out to get you. Psychosis usually involves both, which is really, really bad.
One downside of the country slowly moving to legalize marijuana for recreational use is that hospitals are seeing more cases of Cannabis-Induced Psychosis Disorder. But to get that messed up, you need to put some effort into it. I’m talking daily use of highly potent weed. According to some sources, this can increase the possibility of psychosis by up to five times compared to people who don’t use weed at all.
Symptoms to watch for
Again overindulgence is why marijuana makes some people paranoid. If you overindulge, or you know someone who does, watch for dramatic changes in behavior (like extroverts suddenly becoming reclusive), paranoia, atypical reactions to normal situations or events, problems sleeping, depression and the aforementioned delusions and hallucinations.
If you’re under 25, you’re probably not going to like hearing this, but studies have shown that people who start using marijuana on a regular basis at a young age are more susceptible to psychosis and can accelerate or worsen symptoms of schizophrenia.
Typically men start showing signs of schizophrenia in their late-teens or early-20s. Women begin to show signs in their late-20s or early-30s. Marijuana may manifest these symptoms years earlier.
It’s believed that this has something to do with the human brain, which continues developing until about the age of 25 or 28, depending on who you ask. People who start using marijuana as adolescents run the risk of screwing up that development a little – or a lot.
Should you not do weed if you’re younger than 25? If you’re an exceptionally careful person, maybe not. And if there’s a history of schizophrenia in your family, you may want to stay away from weed all together.
All that said, weed is still generally less dangerous and addictive than alcohol and we let 21-year-olds drink alcohol, so nothing about these regulations make sense. You may want to do some deep dive research and decide for yourself.
(But weed is better.)
