‘It Took Over Everything’: Stories of Marijuana’s Little-Known Risks

A growing number of marijuana users in the U.S. are experiencing severe health problems like these.

As marijuana legalization spreads across the country, people are consuming more of the drug, more often and at ever-higher potencies. Most of the tens of millions of people using marijuana, for health benefits or for fun, don’t experience problems. But a growing number, mainly heavy users, have experienced addiction, psychosis and other harmful effects, The New York Times found.

“Cannabis is a lot of things at once,” said Dr. Kevin Gray, a psychiatrist and specialist in bio-behavioral medicine at Medical University of South Carolina Health. “It can be medically therapeutic. It also can be highly problematic.”

In interviews and surveys, hundreds of people told The Times about serious — sometimes frightening — symptoms that they were stunned to learn could be caused by cannabis. Here are some of their stories.

CANNABINOID HYPEREMESIS SYNDROME

David Krumholtz, an actor known for films like “10 Things I Hate About You” and TV shows like “Numb3rs,” resumed smoking marijuana in 2016, after a decade-long break. Within months, he started to experience cycles of intense nausea and vomiting — a sometimes debilitating condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. It can lead to dehydration, seizures, kidney failure, cardiac arrest and even death in rare instances.

He lost 100 pounds and was in and out of emergency departments. At home in New Jersey, he would spend 10 hours at a time in hot baths, which for unknown reasons can temporarily relieve symptoms.

Marijuana Convictions: Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland signed an executive order that forgives more than 175,000 convictions on low-level charges related to marijuana use.

Americans’ Drug of Choice: A new study shows a growing number of people are regularly using cannabis, while frequent alcohol consumption has remained stable.

Risk to Seniors: In Canada, cannabis poisonings rose sharply among people 65 and older after the country legalized the drug, a new study found.

Easing Restrictions: The Biden administration moved to downgrade marijuana from the most restrictive category of drugs, signaling a significant shift in how the federal government views the substance.

“I had numbness in my extremities, pain in my chest and my blood pressure skyrocketed,” he said.

Mr. Krumholtz, 46, believes he would have eventually died had he not suffered an episode that almost derailed his dream job, a role in the blockbuster 2023 film “Oppenheimer,” and inspired him to quit marijuana for good.

“It seems like such an innocent drug,” he said. “But for some of us, there is a real danger, a really harmful side effect.”

ADDICTION

Aimee Washington, a 44-year-old mother of four in Grand Rapids, Mich., starts smoking cannabis within a half-hour of getting up and consumes six joints. “It’s like an every day, all day thing,” she said.

She can’t sleep without it. She can’t eat without it. When she tries to stop, she has panic attacks. “It took over everything,” she said.

This summer, she thought again about quitting, but was daunted by the withdrawal symptoms she had experienced in the past: headaches, no appetite, mood swings, increased anxiety and insomnia so bad that she once stayed awake for several days.

“If I don’t smoke,” she said, “my anxiety is so high.”

In August, Ms. Washington started work at a local dispensary. The job has flexible hours and benefits, but it has made it even harder for her to quit using marijuana.

PSYCHOSIS

While working a data-entry job at home in Richfield, Utah, during the pandemic, Annika Sheehan escalated her use of high-potency cannabis concentrates, eventually smoking every 15 minutes. She began hearing voices, seeing demons and experiencing other hallucinations.

These psychotic symptoms have trailed her over the past three years, as she has been diagnosed variously with PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and substance use disorder, and at times used marijuana heavily.

“Especially when I’m smoking, those voices become so much louder,” said Ms. Sheehan, 24. “It’s like a constant whispering in my ear and like these intrusive thoughts.”

This year, a physician in a drug-treatment program who diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder explained that cannabis was likely contributing to her psychosis. “It was the first time someone connected the dots,” she said.

Now three months sober, she still sometimes hears voices and footsteps that aren’t there.