I just posted an article that claims marijuana use can lead to violent behavior and mental illness. In it I point to recent research that links habitual pot smoking to all manner of mental health issues:

A study published in the British Medical Journal found those using cannabis before the age of 15 are four times as likely to develop psychotic illness by 26. A Lancet study in 2007 estimated that 14 per cent of 15- to 34-year-olds affected by schizophrenia are ill because of heavy cannabis use. And recent analysis of 35 major studies concluded that cannabis use increased the risk of psychotic illness later in life by approximately 40 per cent and by up to 200 per cent among heavy users.

Many experts in mental health say they now have more than enough evidence to understand that cannabis is not the safe drug of popular myth.

‘We have been campaigning for many years about the links between cannabis and psychiatric illness, and highlighting evidence that the drug may not only precipitate psychotic breakdown but cause long-term mental damage,‘ says Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane.

The article was specifically about England, but as if in answer to the post I found this piece at Psycho for Love about the case of Christopher Gardner Beaman, a rich kid whose behavior is so extreme and violent that his daddy’s lawyers couldn’t get him out of jail time:

A violent spoiled rich kid from Massachusetts was sentenced to one year in jail for beating his girlfriend. 24-year-old Christopher Gardner Beaman punched his girlfriend in the stomach so hard that it lacerated her liver, put her into the hospital, and confined her to a wheelchair for a short period.

It seems that Beaman has a history of violence. He allegedly pushed his own mother down a flight of stairs. Mom supports her son by the way. Way to be an enabler mom. He broke a girl’s arm in the eighth grade. He assaulted a therapist. He also has an arrest record as long as my arm and I have pretty long arms.

When his then girlfriend asked him to take her to the hospital he just dropped her off at her place and gave her two Tylenol.

His lawyers tried to claim that he has “intermittent explosive disorder” or as I like to call it made up woman beater disease. Apparently he thought the charges against him were no big deal because in February he requested that his ankle monitor be removed because it hurt when he played Frisbee.

Did you get all that? Pushes mom down steps, breaks girl’s arm in 8th grade and now he lacerated the liver of his girlfriend in a vicious attack. Then he thought he could get his ankle monitor removed so he could play Frisbee.

And what exactly is “intermittent explosive disorder” anyway? A quick Google of the term leaves one with the distinct impression that it’s the medicalization of people who are bullies. But is it related to drug use?

According to Beaman’s lawyers you bet your ass it is:

Beaman’s attorney, Charles H. Riley III, said his client was diagnosed by Dr. Michael J. Ostacher of Massachusetts General Hospital with intermittent explosive disorder, depression and marijuana dependence, which is in remission.

Clinicians at Bridgewater State Hospital, where Beaman underwent a 40-day evaluation after the attack, concluded he does not have intermittent explosive disorder, but instead diagnosed him with an anti-social personality disorder, Riley said.

Huh. Go figure I guess doctors that examined him say he’s just a cretin who gets high too much. That’s why he almost killed his old lady, and his own mother. Beaman had a long history of doing what many pot smokers tend to do, minimize their criminality and blame others for their problems.

More importantly, Beaman had a history of recreational pot use that coincided with his escalating violence and criminality. The Judge in this case recognized Beaman for what he was:

In siding with the prosecution’s recommendation for jail time, Judge Maurice R. Flynn referenced Beaman’s long criminal record in two states and tendency to minimize his role in violent outbursts.

Flynn said Beaman broke a girl’s arm on a bus in the eighth grade, attacked a therapist in Colorado and has a history of assaulting his younger brothers. His criminal record in Colorado includes three pages of arrests for assault, larceny, forgery, theft, marijuana possession, probation violations and contempt of court, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.

In February, Beaman asked the court to have his GPS monitoring bracelet removed because it “hurts my ankle” during Frisbee games, according to an affidavit.

“To think it’s not important that you put someone in a wheelchair for a week tells me something,” said Flynn. “I am left with a grave offense. I can’t minimize the gravity of the offense. I am also left with a young man who has behaved similarly in the past.”

It’s almost like this spoiled brat lives in a permanent fog where only his emotions and desires matter. It’s almost as if there’s something in his life that separates him from reality and the consequences of his actions. Hmmm.

There are some funny pictures of Beaman’s stunned reaction to being sentenced. It looks like it just dawned on him he won’t be smoking pot for a while.

h/t Trench