I would call bullshit and make excuses if I hadn’t seen this condition myself up close and in person. My childhood best friend is currently in prison and it’s directly attributable to this condition that he suffered from for over two decades. He smoked pot constantly and we never, ever once considered that pot might be he cause of his violent vomiting and excruciating stomach pain that could be alleviated ONLY by a hot bath or shower. Dozens of trips to the ER, so many lost jobs, unbelievable suffering. He never knew when it would come on but if it did he would immediately stop whatever he was doing and look, and I mean look like a crackhead looks for crack, for the nearest bathtub or shower. He could never hold a job. When they ran the article about this condition in he NYT I mailed it to him in prison, he said he broke down and cried when he read it. This shit ruined his life. Thank you for shedding some light on it.

@1- Your friend went to prison for showering?

Having heard about this from other sources as well, I do believe CHS is real. That said, as a lifelong cannabis user who knows lots of other longtime cannabis users, I've never known anyone who had CHS or even heard stories of someone who did, so I'm forced to conclude that those affected are few and far between.

Our bodies make and use cannabinoids naturally, it shouldn't be too surprising when faulty genetics make something go wrong with that process, lots of ailments work that way, just ask anyone who can't tolerate gluten.

I wonder if the same thing happens with edibles, oils, or other extracts.

@1 - Sounds like you really helped your friend by sending him the article. Hopefully it can help him turn his life in a different direction.

@3 Absolutely. I am a long time user for Insomnia and PTSD. I have smoked, used CBD oils and edibles and never once had a single problem. I would also go as far as to suggest that these people, being the few and far between, also suffer some underlying issue that contributes to the side-effects, in addition to your suggestion that different bodies process things differently (which is something you'd think would be more common knowledge and kept in mind in articles like this). I know many, many people who indulge for recreation, as well as for medical, and I too do not know a single person to have any reactions to marijuana other than those with anxiety having struggles with Sativa strains. I would love to read the studies for many reasons, one being to find out if the people affected were tested for anything underlying that could have been a contributing factor.

@2 - To clarify, he went to prison because he robbed banks. But that didn’t start until this condition rendered him unable to keep a job, he tried many times. He turned to crime to feed and house himself and pay for his weed. One of the few advantages of being a criminal is you can have a flexible schedule that allows time off for illness. If you read more about CHS most people describe not just intense vomiting but pain that is usually described as what a knife in the gut would feel like. Hot water was the only thing that would turn off those pain receptors. Not surprisingly now, the condition went away as soon as he got locked up and now we know why. Too bad for him it took so long.

I own and operate OZ. Recreational Cannabis in Fremont and I know several growers that have had CHS simply from over exposure when growing and handling plants.

It can be bad enough that a grower has to take a several month break from having anything to do with cannabis plants.

I have had this, and found that switching to clean organic outdoor grown weed stopped it. I believe this is caused not by the plant, but something applied to the plant.

I love reading stuff like this and the true addicts in the comment sections trying to explain it away.

In high school, I had a friend who did this very thing. The shower part.. 3 to 4 times a day. true, and yeah, weird..