'My skunk addict son hacked off his own penis during psychotic episode caused by drug'

Lad got hooked on super-strong strain of cannabis (stock image)

Dad told how paranoid 16-year-old had gone to bed with a knife, fearing that people were living in the walls

 A teenage skunk addict chopped off his own penis and stabbed his mother during a psychotic episode brought on by the super-strong strain of cannabis .

The paranoid 16-year-old had gone to bed with a knife, fearing that people were living in the walls, before launching an attack on his mum and carrying out the horrific self-mutilation.

His father, named only as Nick, is now backing a campaign to reclassify skunk- which is up to 30 times more powerful than traditional cannabis- as a class A drug.

In a harrowing interview with BBC Five Live's Emma Barnett, Nick said his son turned from a “bright, witty rugby lad” into a “waste of space” after becoming hooked on the drug.

The boy had been living with friends in Brighton but moved back to his mother's house in the south of England shortly before his breakdown.

Over “two years of hell” Nick said his son became delusional and started to believe in mermaids.

He said: “He became insulated. He became paranoid. He switched from a very bright bubbly lad to...I can only describe it as a waste of space. His demeanour changed and it just escalated. It was a whole tragic trip down the hill.”

Nick said when his son had a breakdown it had been a “normal day” but “he woke up in the middle of the night and he was ranting and raving.”

He said: “He basically had a psychotic episode and did huge amounts of harm to both himself and his mother.”

The boy’s mum survived the attack and was able to call an ambulance.

A gobsmacked Emma Barnett said: “He chopped off his own penis. Once you hear that you cannot imagine the state of mind somebody is in to do that.

“How on earth did you react?”

Nick replied: “It was absolutely devastating. You can’t imagine anything of that nature happening. The whole episode was just surreal.”

The teenager has undergone numerous operations but his father said he may not be able to have children and still suffers from mental health problems.

He has now reconciled with his mother after spending a short time in prison.

Lord Nicholas Monson started the campaign to reclassify skunk after his son, Rupert Green, became addicted to the mind-bending drug and killed himself earlier this year.

He said criminals have “taken what is a perfectly decent plant and made it into a monster”.

A 2015 study published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal found skunk triples the risk of psychosis and can lead to schizophrenia, delusions and erratic behaviour.

The government reclassified cannabis as a class B drug from a class C drug in 2009.

mirror.co.uk