Reported in the Journal of Medical Case Reports, the 23-year-old man had been using cannabis for two years before discontinuing the drug for a period of three months.
During this session, he experienced an erection unrelated to any sexual stimulation and started to feel sharp pains in his penis.
The man was aware of the process as it was happening, he later reported to doctors, and attended the emergency room after the bleeding had not stopped after two hours.
Within four weeks of ceasing to use cannabis, his psychotic symptoms resolved, and the team diagnosed him with cannabis-induced psychosis — a rare adverse effect of cannabis.
They also noted that the man could have had a case of priapism — where an erection lasts longer than four hours, despite an absence of sexual stimulation — or it could have been an adverse effect of the cannabis.