West
This woman suffered marijuana-psychosis. She says Bryn Spejcher and the man she killed were both victims
An anti-marijuana advocate accused California lawmakers of valuing the cannabis industry’s profits over Americans’ health and the media of intentionally keeping the drug’s risks hidden from the public as recreational use grows across the country.
“Where are the messages that say this can increase your risk for depression, anxiety, psychosis, schizophrenia, increases the risk of suicide?” said Heidi Swan, a board member for Parents Opposed to Pot and a victim of marijuana-induced psychosis. “Where are those billboards? Where are those warning labels on the product? There are none.”
The health care data analytics firm Truveta recently reported that there is a “complex relationship between cannabis use and mental health disorders.” The Jan. 11 study found a nearly 50% increase in marijuana-induced psychosis emergency department visits between 2019 and 2020. A May study published in Psychological Medicine found that up to 30% of schizophrenia diagnoses in men ages 21 to 30 could have been prevented if the individuals had not been heavy marijuana users.
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But Swan said research and testimonies from doctors have been “dismissed by our elected leaders, have been dismissed by public health organizations, have been dismissed mostly by the media.”
Swan attended the recent trial of Bryn Spejcher, a 33-year-old who stabbed her date over 100 times before stabbing herself in the neck during a cannabis-induced psychotic episode. Spejcher was a novice user of marijuana who testified she didn’t know the potential side effects of THC.
Both Spejcher and the man she killed, Chad O’Melia, “are victims of the marijuana industry and of the state of California” because they weren’t properly warned, Swan said.
The anti-marijuana advocate worked with California lawmakers on two bills that would have added regulations on cannabis sales. The Cannabis Right to Know Act, introduced in 2022, proposed putting warning labels on all THC products to inform buyers of health and safety risks. The Cannabis Candy Child Safety Act, brought forward last year, sought to regulate cannabis candy packaging to protect against attracting unassuming children.
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Bryn Spejcher was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in December but received no prison time after killing her boyfriend while having an episode of cannabis-induced psychosis. (Ventura County District Attorney)
“We have huge public health campaigns about DUIs. We know these things, that if you’re impaired, you should not drive,” Swan said. “There is no warning about that with marijuana.”
The Cannabis Right to Know Act died awaiting a House vote, while Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill aiming to prevent kids from ingesting THC candy.
“They were educated all along the way. All of them heard stories that I am sure they would rather not have heard. And in the end, the bill was pulled due to pressure from the industry,” Swan told Fox News. “So, we have no protections in California. We have no warnings about the mental health harms.”
A 2022 Los Angeles Times investigation uncovered corruption in the cannabis industry, with businesses bribing some Golden State lawmakers in exchange for licenses and more lenient regulations. As a result, state officials launched an audit to end the illegal activity, but Swan said the revenue stream coming from the booming industry still overshadows any interest in public health.
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Lawmakers aren’t “looking at the ledger properly,” she said. “They’re looking at tax revenue, but they’re not looking at the costs. And there are incredible costs.”
“The state of California is more interested in the health of the marijuana industry than they are of their own citizens,” Swan told Fox News.
Swan helped draft two bills that would have added warning labels to cannabis products and restrict companies from packaging THC-infused candy in a way that children could mistake. (David McNew/Getty Images)
Despite a recent influx of reports linking psychiatric symptoms with the drug, an August study published in Psychiatry Research tracked 210 teenagers and young adults and found that continuous cannabis use over two years did not increase risks of transitioning into psychosis or worsening clinical symptoms, overall neurocognition, or functioning levels.
Since 2012, 24 states have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use. Despite her personal experiences with the substance, Swan voted in favor of legalization during the 2016 California election, thinking it would be easier to regulate.
“California rolled out legalization without any thought to public health,” she said. “It’s one of the narratives of the industry. ‘Legalize it so we can regulate it.’ And then you try to regulate, and they come in with all their money and all their influence and just smash it down.”
Swan had never heard of cannabis-induced psychosis — a possible side effect of marijuana use that includes episodes of delusion, hallucinations and loss of contact with reality that are associated with conditions like schizophrenia — until she experienced it when she was a teenager in the early ‘90s.
“I lost touch with reality, and it was really scary, so I stopped using it,” she said in a previous interview with Fox News. But her brother, K. Anderson, once enjoyed the “fun house” effect the drug gave him and continued to use marijuana “from the time he was in middle school until he got his graduate degree,” Swan said.
“He went on to try crack and became a homeless drug addict with schizophrenia,” she added. “He was lost to us for a decade.”
Swan said the public is not being properly educated about the potential side effects of cannabis, and are instead being marketed the drug by big businesses and celebrities. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Swan and her brother finally reconnected when Anderson contacted his sister after finishing a year in jail and receiving treatment in a rehab facility. It wasn’t until almost a year later that Swan realized her brother suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness.
The pair wrote a book loosely based on Anderson’s life, “A Night In Jail,” to raise awareness about the risks of marijuana usage.
Swan said tragedies like the Spejcher case are just “a foreshadowing of what’s to come” if cannabis continues to be marketed to the public as safe.
“The celebrities, the athletes, the musicians who are all fronting marijuana companies, they post on social media themselves using and tell young people that it’s cool and that it’s safe. They should be held accountable somehow for their misrepresentation,” Swan told Fox News.
“How does a prevention advocate stand up against that kind of marketing, that kind of appeal to youth?” she added. “The least our government can do is to put out basic information to counter that.”
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KALIHI KAI, Oahu (KHON2) — Tuesday afternoon’s line of backed-up traffic came in part after equipment on a truck hit the Gulick overpass, the lowest overpass on the island.
“Every time (Gulick overpass) gets hit, it takes us an hour to four hours to clear it,” said Ed Sniffen, Hawaii Department of Transportation director. “First, our people have to get out in traffic to get there, and second, we have to make sure we check the structure, the integrity of the structure and remove any loose concrete that might be there.”
The trucking industry said it takes precautions to ensure accurate and safe routes for its trucks, but accidents can still happen.
“Sometimes when we do get orders to deliver things, we go by what the person who’s doing the initial order is, we go by what their weight and their height is, and sometimes it’s not correct,” said Tina Yamaki, Hawaii Transportation Association managing director.
Tuesday wasn’t the first time the Gulick overpass has been hit, which is why raising it is a top priority for the DOT. They said the entirety of the overpass should be closed by June, with work expected to last for about a year.
“The Gulick overpass is our lowest clearance in the state right now, it’s at 14.3, the next nearest one is at 14.7, and it never gets hit,” said Sniffen. “Gulick overpass has been hit in the last five years at least four times.”
DOT is currently installing a pedestrian overpass to connect nearby schools and homes in the area, which will be installed by early June, and a complete shutdown of the area is expected by the end of June.
The raising of the overpass is part of the larger project to expand Middle Street to five lanes.
“The project itself is over 100 million dollars, very important for this area,” said Sniffen. “It’s an area that we always have back-ups during peak times, and non-peak times, and we always have a lot of weaving in those areas because of the merge that we have there.”
The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 22.
Winning Powerball numbers from April 22 drawing
24-29-32-49-63, Powerball: 11, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 22 drawing
Day: 7-6-4
Night: 5-2-7
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 22 drawing
Day: 2-0-6-9
Night: 5-6-7-0
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from April 22 drawing
15-20-32-46-48, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 03
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Idaho Cash numbers from April 22 drawing
04-13-20-30-42
Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 22 drawing
17-26-43-44-53, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- 5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
The Bridger project is a massive oil pipeline project that would come in from Alberta, Canada, into Montana at Phillips County, then go through nine counties before getting to Wyoming.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) are reviewing the project, and it could cut across private, state, and federal land.
Watch Bridger pipeline story here:
Proposed Bridger pipeline would bring crude from Canada through Montana to Wyoming
The 647-mile-long Bridger pipeline would move up to 550,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
“It’s a win for Montana. It’s a win for America,” said Yellowstone County Commissioner Mark Morse.
Morse and the Yellowstone County commissioners are among the many Montana leaders supporting the project.
Just this week, they drafted a letter to the Bureau of Land Management expressing that support.
“The energy security is again, it’s going to be on the North American continent and transporting oil via a pipeline is safer than rail or truck,” Morse said.
Commissioners also say the pipeline would be an economic boost for Yellowstone County, bringing construction jobs, supply contracts, and local spending.
“We’ll be a hub for their construction activities,” Morse said. “Supplying parts and pieces, labor.”
But there are plenty of opponents.
They say the risks are simply too high, pointing to past oil spills, including the 2015 Poplar pipeline rupture that sent 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River near Glendive and a diesel spill of 45,000 gallons near Sussex, Wyoming.
“If that crossing has spilled into the Missouri River, it eventually would make it to that intake,” said Lance Fourstar, co-director of the American Indian Movement Montana. “Highly carcinogenic tar sand bitumen, so we already know it’s highly carcinogenic.”
Fourstar also has concerns about sacred tribal lands.
“The key point of concern is the sovereignty and treaty rights,” Fourstar said. “This project crosses lands, that with treaty reserved rights, hunting, fishing, and gathering.”
The Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) says the pipeline would originate in Alberta with what it calls environmentally destructive fuel sources.
“It’s an environmental disaster waiting to happen in a state that gets a lot of revenue from fishing and agriculture. A majority of the route crosses through Montana, putting land and water at risk,” MEIC spokesperson Shannon James said in a telephone interview with MTN News.
But for Yellowstone County leaders like Morse, it’s a win-win, not just for Yellowstone County, but also the country.
“I just see energy independence for America,” Morse said.
MTN News contacted True Companies in Casper, which proposed the Bridger pipeline.
True and BLM were not available for interviews.
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