A D1 baseball scholarship. A happy, close family. A teenager with a future that looked set. Then marijuana shows up in college, and what seemed “not that serious” quickly becomes the start of a long, brutal spiral: lost academics, lost baseball, escalating substance use, arrests, homelessness, and years of grief for the whole family.

I’m joined by Nancy, a Michigan mom who shares her son’s story with clarity and courage. We talk about how cannabis stayed the common thread across 16 years of substance use disorder, and how legalization didn’t make marijuana safer, it made high-THC products easier to get. Nancy also walks us through a heartbreaking pivot point during her son's cancer treatment, when marijuana was suggested for pain, leading to frequent high-potency use that ultimately fed cannabis use disorder.

The most chilling moment comes when Nancy describes cannabis-induced psychosis and a house fire, with marijuana as the only substance in his system. From there, we shift to what helps: court-ordered treatment, therapy, medication, family boundaries, and rebuilding a life one stable day at a time. We also dig into mental health pressures for competitive athletes, why identity loss can be a trigger, and how parent-to-parent support can pull families out of isolation.

Finally, Nancy explains how Hill Day training sparked real action back home, including building Michigan Families Affected by Marijuana and pursuing practical prevention efforts like using opioid settlement funds for school substance use education.

If this conversation resonates with you and you would like to join PAN's efforts, please subscribe and share Fortitude and email us at PAN@learnaboutsam.org

To contact Nancy about joining Michigan Families Affected by Marijuana (MIFAM) email her at Michiganfam2026@gmail.com

If you need support or help in your recovery journey contact Parents of Addicted Loved Ones at https://palgroup.org/

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https://parentaction.network/
https://x.com/parentactionSAM
https://www.facebook.com/parentactionnetworkSAM

SAM:

https://learnaboutsam.org/
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A straight-A kid with a huge friend group doesn’t fit most people’s picture of a cannabis crisis, which is exactly why Steve’s story will stop you in your tracks. Steve from New Jersey joins me to talk about his son, Nick, and how a backpack find, and what first looked like sudden college anxiety unfolded into cannabis-induced psychosis and, tragically, a suicide that could have been prevented. Nick wasn’t “checked out” of life. He was working, social, and trying to do the right things, which made the warning signs easier to dismiss and harder to connect.

We walk through the timeline: the first anxiety at the end of Nick’s freshman semester, the pandemic disruption, a transfer to a better-fit school, and the moment Steve’s wife finds a backpack full of marijuana and paraphernalia. Steve shares what he didn’t know then about today’s high-THC marijuana, THC potency, and the potential mental health risks including paranoia, psychosis, and suicidality. We also talk about a brutal barrier families run into: when a young adult is legally an adult, treatment programs may not address cannabis use unless the patient names it, even when parents see clear patterns.

After Nick’s death, Steve explains how his family found information after hearing SAM's CEO, Kevin Sabet speak, and support through Laura Stack and Johnny’s Ambassadors, and why he now advocates with the Parent Action Network, showing up for Hill Days to meet with lawmakers and staffers educating on the harms of today's high potency products and advocating for public policies that protect our youth and communities from today's highly potent products. If you’re a parent, educator, clinician, or policymaker trying to understand cannabis-induced psychosis, teen mental health, and prevention, this conversation is honest, specific, and painfully instructive.

If this hits close to home, please subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find these stories. If you're interested in sharing your story on Fortitude, or advocating with Parent Action Network, please reach out to Crissy@learnaboutsam.org or pan@learnaboutsam.org

Follow PAN and SAM:

PAN:
https://parentaction.network/
https://x.com/parentactionSAM
https://www.facebook.com/parentactionnetworkSAM

SAM:

https://learnaboutsam.org/
https://x.com/learnaboutsam
https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutsam

Four years ago, Parent Action Network (PAN) starts with a simple realization: facts matter, but stories change minds. Crissy sits down with SAM CEO, Dr. Kevin Sabet, to unpack why organizing parents becomes the missing force in the marijuana legalization debate and why the human toll keeps showing up in our inbox every week. We talk about the loneliness of prevention work, the attacks advocates face, and the way one family’s loss can become a lasting purpose for policy change.

Kevin shares the story that still stops him in his tracks, Sally Schindel’s son Andy and the note he left behind. We dig into why those words cut through talking points, and how today’s high-potency cannabis, youth mental health concerns, and normalization collide in real homes and schools. If you’ve ever heard “it’s just marijuana,” we explain why that line falls apart when impairment affects other people, from bus drivers to pilots to public safety.

We also go deep on the New York Times and what it means when a legacy outlet finally admits “America has a marijuana problem” while still clinging to regulation. From there, we zoom out to Kevin’s book One Nation Under the Influence and the wider drug crisis, including fentanyl, safe supply drug substitution debates, psychedelics, and the prevention strategies that actually show results. If you care about smart drug policy, youth prevention, and advocacy that moves the needle, hit play, share this with a friend, and leave us a review.

To learn more about the myths of marijuana and the drug policy crisis in this country you can find Dr. Sabet's books here:

Reefer Sanity

Smokescreen

One Nation Under the Influence

If you have a story to share please reach out to us at PAN@learnaboutsam.org

Follow PAN and SAM:

PAN:
https://parentaction.network/
https://x.com/parentactionSAM
https://www.facebook.com/parentactionnetworkSAM

SAM:

https://learnaboutsam.org/
https://x.com/learnaboutsam
https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutsam