Can marijuana alone cause psychosis? Or, in my case, was it something other than marijuana?

Hello everyone,

About three or four years ago, can't be sure as to the exact date, I tried smoking marijuana for the first, and last, time ever. I am wondering four years from that date whether or not the marijuana was laced with something -- either by my friend, who gave me the marijuana, or by someone else. It's too hard to tell but at this point, I'm clueless, depressed, anxious and believe I suffer from Olney's lesions, which are brought on by dissociative drug use; in my case, possibly PCP.

Is this symptomatic of PCP use? I smoked half (.5 grams) of marijuana, about three or four minutes later of heavy smoking I'm in a state of deep paranoia; I feel like I've entered a time vortex, causing me to completely dissociate from reality. About an hour to half an hour later I'm vomiting, have a blank stare (expressionless) and I feel like I'm emotionally unpresent.

The next day my memory is really foggy, everything is being altered and rearranging itself.

Continued below:

My memory only started to recover after about three or four days -- at which point it wasn't as frenetic as it was before, but still pretty bad.

About three or four weeks later I start to develop a weird "tingling" in my back legs which moves from there to the back of my neck.

Those subside after a week or less, and I'm back into the severe state of paranoia; not nearly as bad as it was after smoking the marijuana, which was like my brain was perforated, but still bad and exhausting.

The paranoia lasts for about 4 months until I decide to fill out a prescription for paxil, an SSRI, which will altogether lessen and eradicate the symptoms of paranoia and depression. Not long after, however, now, do I feel like I've suffered some longterm damage as a result of this onetime experience.

I'm living everyday of my life wondering, why didn't my doctor order some kind of a urine analysis to determine what it was (and something to counteract) that I had taken?

1st Off- Smoking marijuana does not cause psychosis. Smoking marijuana does release THC into the brain. THC acts on cannabinoid receptors which are found in many areas in the brain. These brain areas are involved in memory, concentration, perception, and movement. When THC activates cannabinoid receptors, it interferes with the normal functioning of these brain areas. This is why is makes you feel high.

2nd- You only took a couple hits of weed laced with PCP. Smoking such a small amount of PCP once in your life will not bring on psychosis. ever.

3rd- Olney's Lesions are a form of brain damage that are said to be caused by high doses of dissociative anesthetics such as ketamine (Special K), phencyclidine(PCP), and dextromethorphan hydrobromide(DXM).

I am basing my decisions on the amount of PCP that was taken into your body that day. Since you smoked half a gram of weed "supposedly" laced with PCP; not even pure PCP. This is impossible that you would feel symptoms of either psychosis or Olney's Lesions. My conclusion is that it's all in your head. You keep telling yourself that this is a big deal, so you believe that it's a big deal. Stop researching ailments caused by large amounts of PCP use. You're only making yourself feel worse. You're making an event (that most teenagers go through once in there lives) something it doesn't have to be. Just believe that your okay and tell yourself over and over again until you feel better. It will work. Good Luck.

The effects of marijuana can affect people differently. It makes some people paranoid, others calm, others see things shifting and moving. It all depends on your body chemistry and how it reacts to the drug. These affects can last until the next day if you smoked more than you're used to (in your case, the first time).
And, if your friends gave you a type of weed to smoke called "chronic," it might have been laced with cocaine. Hopefully this wasn't the case.

Good luck with everything, just try not to panic. I became paranoid after the first time I smoked. I thought I was dying. I kept telling everyone to leave me because I was a waste of life. It was pretty bad, and I still felt pretty distorted the next day, but I got through it.

Weed alone cannot cause any illnesses to my knowledge. Hopefully whatever negative reaction you had to this will pass.

Marijuana alone cannot cuase these kind of problems. It is likely that it was laced with PCP. Although Ive never heard of a one time use of PCP causing that kind of lasting damage. My concern would be where was the marijuana grown. What kind of fertilizer and/or pesticides was used? What quality was the water supply? I heard of a case in California few years back that a guy had gotten brain damage from smoking marijuana that was grown in very bad conditions. Contaminated water and pesticeds were used in the field where he grew it. I hope you are ok, I would go to a doctor and voice your concerns.

I cannot smoke weed either. I did it for about a year in high school and got 'normal' highs, but then all of a sudden I started getting really bad trips. Just like you describe - severe paranoia, delusions, the works. It was like I was temporarily schizophrenic. I knew for years that what I went through was probably how people with schizophrenia feel. Then a few months ago I saw an article on Yahoo that said scientists found out that what I thought all along was true. None of my friends have ever had this happen to them, I don't think it's very common. In my case, I believe the reason I had these 'bad trips' was because my dad has schizoprenia. I will never smoke it again, worst feeling I've ever had in my life. Any symptoms that you are having now or more than a few days after marijuana use are from something else, so you should get that checked out. But from what you stated it sounds like you did have marijuana induced psychosis like me. Does anyone in your family suffer from schizophrenia or similar mental illness? That would definitely explain why this happened to you. I will say that I am not at all against marijuana use, as most people do not get psychosis from using it...I just think if it does give you 'bad trips' it is definitely not for you and you should stay away from it.
Here are some good articles for you:

http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/chemica...

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/05/ma...

One thing a person never does and that is buy off the streets. There was some time back marijuana that came up from Mexico that was tainted with something that made people sick.
I am a marijuana patent and know where my stuff is grown.

Marijuana does not contain Phencyclidine (PCP). This is added by someone.
If someone told you what you took was only marijuana you were lied too. Next time you feel you have to take drugs find out what the drug is you are taking, being pharmaceutical drugs or drugs such as marijuana that is legal for some of us to take. There are hundreds of strains of marijuana out there....
As for your symptoms you currently have. Our bodies change in time. Something you did years ago may bite you on the butt now? It sounds as if at one time in your life you took anything someone gave you. Go to your doctor get at least a check up.

Wish you well...

you know, this this is kind of strange that you asked this question. i have a friend who got some weed that was laced with PCP and this sounds kind of like his situation.