Stanford neuroscientist and content creator Andrew Huberman appeared on TBPN where the conversation turned to weed and the backlash he faced after sharing research on its psychological risks.
Huberman explained that after hosting two guests and recording a solo episode on weed, he made a statement grounded in the literature he had been reviewing.
He said, “There is a population of people, especially young males, who have a predisposition to schizophrenia or bipolar, meaning they have a first relative with those conditions, that are at very high risk for weed-induced psychosis, some of which doesn’t reverse.”
That claim landed him in hot water. “I got accused of misinformation by traditional media,” he said. “Not, you know, not like being a misinformation,” he added, noting he kept his hands under the table because “my response to that I think they can understand.”
He referenced the Journal of American Medical as part of the criticism he received.
Rather than walk back the claim entirely, Huberman provided context. He acknowledged that additional data has since emerged and that the media landscape itself is a separate conversation worth having. He then described what he learned from the guests he brought on to discuss the topic further.
One researcher, described as a thoughtful scientist from Canada, offered a more measured view.
In Huberman’s words, the researcher “explained that the psychosis is often caused by an overingestion of too much THC” and said that when people inhale weed by vape or smoking, “they tend to hit a plane of high that’s not excessive and the risk for a psychotic episode is lower.”
The other guest, Stanford clinician Keith Humphre, whom Huberman described as an expert in a**iction of all kinds, told a different story. “He’s not observing that,” Huberman said of Humphre’s clinical experience.
Huberman’s own conclusion was that the core risk is real and context-dependent.
“The issue is how often and how much and on what genetic background somebody is doing this,” he said. “The problem is you don’t want to be part of the experiment. You don’t want to be the person that discovers that you have a predisposition to psychosis by smoking high THC weed.”
He also pointed to the pattern of how weed has changed. “You had a balance between THC and CBD in the plant, different strains, etc. It was a kind of a community for a long time,” he said. “And then all of a sudden, it’s like, no, we’ve got really high THC concentrates that you can buy at the convenience store. And then people with a predisposition are having psychotic episodes.”
Huberman made clear his stance remains consistent: he supports legal but regulated can**bis, while maintaining that the science around high-concentration THC and psychosis risk is something people need to take seriously, regardless of how that message has been received.
