{"id":10045,"date":"2025-11-27T16:39:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T05:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/?p=10045"},"modified":"2026-01-20T20:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T09:33:01","slug":"when-cannabis-use-unleashed-hidden-trauma-malala-yousafzais-terrifying-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/when-cannabis-use-unleashed-hidden-trauma-malala-yousafzais-terrifying-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"When Cannabis Use Unleashed Hidden Trauma: Malala Yousafzai\u2019s Terrifying Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"\"In a revelation from her recent memoir published last month, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai shared how cannabis triggered trauma from the 2012 Taliban attack that nearly killed her.<\/p>

A University Experiment Gone Wrong<\/strong><\/p>

Whilst studying at Oxford University, the shooting survivor tried smoking cannabis from a bong with friends in a campus summerhouse. What seemed like a harmless student experience quickly turned into a nightmare.<\/p>

\u201cI knew this feeling, the terror of being trapped inside my body. This had happened before,\u201d Malala writes in her memoir\u00a0Finding My Way<\/em>.<\/p>

How Cannabis Triggered Trauma She Thought She\u2019d Forgotten<\/strong><\/p>

After using the bong, Malala experienced severe physical and psychological reactions. She lost the ability to walk, her muscles locked up, and vivid flashbacks to the shooting began flooding her mind \u2013 memories she thought her brain had erased.<\/p>

The drug use unlocked traumatic memories from her seven-day coma following the Taliban attack. Images replayed relentlessly: her school bus, a man with a gun, blood everywhere, strangers carrying her body through crowded streets.<\/p>

\u201cThere was no escape, no place to hide from my own mind,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>

The Dangerous Reality of Drug-Induced Trauma<\/strong><\/p>

Malala\u2019s friend carried her back to the dormitory, where she spent hours on the bathroom floor, vomiting, screaming, and shaking. She feared closing her eyes, worried the nightmares would trap her in an endless loop of terror.<\/p>

\u201cIf you fall asleep, you will die!\u201d she remembered telling herself, staying awake through the night and into the morning.<\/p>

The experience revealed a crucial truth: substance use can trigger or worsen serious mental health episodes, particularly in individuals with trauma histories. Cannabis triggered trauma that Malala\u2019s brain had protectively suppressed for years, violently unleashing what she thought she\u2019d forgotten.<\/p>

A Sobering Warning About Cannabis and Trauma<\/strong><\/p>

Malala\u2019s experience demonstrates that cannabis is not the harmless substance many believe it to be. For individuals with underlying trauma, anxiety, or other mental health vulnerabilities, drug use can unleash devastating psychological consequences.<\/p>

Her friend\u2019s words haunted her afterwards: \u201cIt stays in your blood.\u201d<\/p>

This powerful account serves as a stark reminder that substance use \u2013 even experimental or recreational \u2013 can trigger unpredictable and severe reactions, particularly in those who have experienced trauma. Cannabis triggered trauma that had lain buried for years, proving that drug use can unlock dangerous psychological responses.<\/p>

Read the full extract from Malala\u2019s memoir here:<\/strong> WRD NEWS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a revelation from her recent memoir published last month, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai shared how cannabis triggered trauma from the 2012 Taliban attack that nearly killed her. A University Experiment Gone Wrong Whilst studying at Oxford University, the shooting survivor tried smoking cannabis from a bong with friends in a campus summerhouse. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-next-phase-platform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11077,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10045\/revisions\/11077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}