When Garrett Rigg moved from a "transitional living program" facility near Chicago last month into a group home, it was a major milestone for the 27-year-old, who traveled 1,000 miles from his home in Denver to get treatment after a cannabis-induced psychotic break five years ago.
Rigg had to leave his hometown because it lacked suitable long-term treatment, according to his mother, Connie Kabrick. The three marijuana dispensaries at the intersection a half block from her home are the reason why she says he can't move back.
As marijuana increasingly becomes legalized, parents of children who make up the mounting cases of cannabis-induced psychosis and other mental illness say treatment is far less available than the pot they say is linked to the conditions.
Many marijuana advocates question the strength of the science behind warnings by federal and state public health officials. They say more rigorous studies are needed to prove whether frequent use of high-potency pot caused the mental illness or if it would have occurred anyway.
Whether marijuana is the cause or the self-prescribed cure, the rise in psychosis, schizophrenia and suicide among young, heavy users comes amid a shortage in doctors and facilities to treat them. Parents describe spotty understanding of cannabis-induced mental illness and the best ways to treat it among doctors and hospitals.
Mental health treatment, especially for teens needing psychiatric care, is lacking in most parts of the country, USA TODAY found.
A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey found in 2018 there were 3,752 substance abuse treatment programs in the nation that served adolescents. That's about 25% of the number available for adults as federal data shows marijuana use soaring among high school students.
Lori Robinson is the founder of Moms Strong, a group that works to educate people on the connection between marijuana, mental illness and suicide. Her son, Shane, died by suicide in 2012 after two hospitalizations for psychosis in 2009 and 2011. She calls the treatment he received "horrendous."
It wasn't until 2013 that the Diagnostic Statistical Manual – the physicians' bible for recognized mental health conditions – added a “cannabis-use-disorder” section, which she says described Shane's conditions.
Awareness still lags.
"American psychiatric facilities do not understand the severe brain impact from THC on some people, especially when my son was hospitalized," Robinson says. "I wish I believed their awareness was much better today, (but) I don’t know of any outstanding rehab facility in the U.S. who understands cannabis-use-disorder/cannabis-induced-psychosis and how to help with long-lasting recovery."
In an attempt to address the shortage of mental health and addiction treatment for people under age 18 with such co-occurring diagnoses, Rutgers University opened an Adolescent Substance Evaluation Service in July at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The staff includes fellows in child and adolescent psychiatry who refer patients to providers at the hospital or in the community.
Wun Jung Kim, a child psychiatrist and professor at the Rutgers medical school, estimates at least half of young people come in because of marijuana-related conditions.
"It's hard to find someone who specializes in child psychiatry as well as addiction, and facilities for those kids are very limited," he says. "I don’t think society takes use of marijuana seriously in kids."
Parents describe challenges finding and affording appropriate treatment.
Carla Trigo of Northport village in Long Island, New York, says she had to send her 15-year-old son to a "living therapeutic center" in Missouri to get him the intensive treatment he needed for his cannabis-related disorder. Her insurance doesn't cover much, so she pays most of the cost out of pocket.
Parents struggle to convince their young adult children that marijuana led to or worsened their condition. Some, including Sharon Burns Southard, lost the battle. Her 24-year-old son started having "schizophrenic episodes" six months before he died by suicide in July 2018.
"We had taken him to a clinic for help twice, but he wouldn’t let himself be admitted, and there was nothing we could do," the Illinois mom says. "He kept saying he wanted to quit on his own. I think he gave up because he was afraid his addiction was never going to stop, and he was too afraid to go on psych meds."
From the windows of her two-story home in Denver's trendy Lower Highlands neighborhood, Rigg's mother watches the mentally disabled residents of a nearby subsidized apartment building walk back and forth to the corner dispensaries.
Surrounded by pictures of her blond, shaggy-haired only child, Kabrick explains how he went from a state-ranked runner and gifted student taking the SAT exam in fifth grade to a young adult learning to care for himself again. Rigg talked to USA TODAY but declined to be quoted for this article.
Rigg began using marijuana when he was a sophomore in high school and was about 25 and working on his community college degree when he told his mother something "was going on in his brain," Kabrick says.
Rigg tells his mother he isn't convinced marijuana is to blame for his mental health decline.
Riggs was treated at the Amita Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health in Arlington Heights, Illinois. There, part-time psychiatrist Thomas Lee says that in the past 15 months, he has seen eight young men from around the country who were treated at least in part for cannabis-induced psychosis in both in- and outpatient programs.
Lee recommends parents enroll children under 18 who use marijuana regularly in outpatient addiction treatment before the use leads to "disastrous consequences." Those over 18 can’t be forced into treatment, but he says parents should strongly encourage it after evaluation. He especially recommends group therapy for young people as they may feel less singled out.
With treatment, there is hope, Lee says: "The ones who stay away from marijuana do pretty well."
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