The 1936 propaganda film, “Reefer Madness”, urged parents to warn their kids that smoking marijuana caused reckless driving, sexual assault, violent behavior, permanent psychosis, and suicide. Dire outcomes and lurid scenes are dramatized to the hilt. The movie flopped, and was forgotten until its re-discovery by gleeful advocates of marijuana legalization in the 1970s. Its success as a camp hit on college campuses helped launch New Line Cinema and led to a musical on Broadway, with a film version due later this year.

Some might consider all this harmless fun but a series of compelling studies published in recent years shows that cannabis is an addictive substance. Some individuals do suffer harm from smoking pot— particularly youth who already have mild psychotic symptoms or have relatives with mood disorders with psychosis or schizophrenia (placing them at high risk genetically for these conditions). These findings are coming to light just as liberalization of marijuana laws is gaining ground, a change sure to ease access to marijuana. This may send the signal that pot is considered relatively benign by the authorities and further tempt risk-loving and impulsive adolescents.  It appears from these studies that marijuana can do serious harm to our children with bipolar disorder and their well siblings, and is far more likely to harm them than their peers.