‘I was addicted to weed at 12’

Cannabis is a dangerous and addictive drug, a recovering teenage addict in the US has warned.

Gideon Modisett first started smoking cannabis at just twelve years of age and by his early teens the addiction was spiralling out of control.

Young men regularly using cannabis are at particular risk of developing psychosis because their brains are still developing.

‘Numb’

In an article published by the American online news outlet The Free Press, Modisett told how, as a lonely child, he was introduced to cannabis by a much older friend.

When the friend moved away, he said, “I was back to having no friends. Every day. But now I had weed to make me numb whenever I felt like feeling numb, which was often, and then more often”.

Switching to disposable vape pens containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the mind-altering chemical in cannabis – Modisett explained, made taking the drug “so convenient”.

“It was like my phone. I could take my weed wherever I went. I could be high anytime I wanted to be, which was almost always.”

Out of control

By May 2021, he continued, “I was smoking more than ever. In fact, now it was a problem when I couldn’t be high, because that would make me angry, and my anger was on a hair trigger.

“It got to the point where I would smoke myself to sleep during weekdays and then, on weekends, smoke until I puked and passed out.”

Now, with the support of his parents and Marijuana Anonymous, Modisett is now a recovering addict and drug free, but he admitted it still “takes work every day”.

He observed that, while older people “with hazy memories of getting high in their dorm rooms” insist “weed is a safe, recreational drug”, the reality is: “It’s much stronger, and the consequences of smoking are getting worse.”