
Correction: The headline for this article originally said “Leftists who smoke weed 29.4 times more likely to have psychotic break.” Upon a closer reading of the science, our editors discovered an error. In fact, “Weed smokers who have psychotic breaks 29.4 times more likely to be leftists.” The headline has been updated accordingly, and we apologize for the error.
Boston, Mass. (AP) — Serenity Foster vividly remembers the day she was admitted to Boston Medical Center. It was Nov. 8, 2017, and she’d been smoking weed all day, eagerly anticipating the “Scream Helplessly at the Sky” event on Boston Commons.
She never made it.
“I had such extreme anxiety that I lost touch with reality,” she says now, calmly sitting on the floor of the Today Show, both hands performing the volk mudra. “But I’ve learned that yoga can help with the psychotic disorder, and I don’t smoke weed anymore.”
Foster is just one of thousands of people admitted to hospitals nationwide with a diagnosis of psychotic disorder associated with cannabis dependence.
According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, the disease affects self-identified Leftists in far greater numbers than any other American demographic.
From 2016 to 2019, the number of hospitalizations with that diagnosis rose from 20 to 588 yearly, says the study. Leftist patients represent 89.8% of all episodes.
“I’m still working through it with my therapist,” says Foster. “We’re also exploring how much Trump Derangement Syndrome contributed to the episode, but I don’t share that with my friends.”
She also doesn’t perform the volk mudra in public, for fear of being labeled a White Supremacist.