By Guy Page

An indepth Sept. 6 report by Seven Days reporter Colin Flanders reveals that Robbie Mafuta, charged with murdering his Northwest State Correctional Facility cellmate in December, had previously suffered from paranoid schizophrenia that his hospital psychiatrist thought might be caused by his heavy consumption of cannabis. 

As reported August 8 in Vermont Daily Chronicle, Mafuta is being held on second degree murder charges stemming from fatal blunt force trauma inflicted on the head of Jeffrey Hall, 55, a Burlington homeless man, while the two were cellmates in the Swanton prison on December 22, 2022.  

Mufuta emigrated to the United States from the Congo when he was five, eventually living with his father (a harsh physical disciplinarian) in Essex Junction, Flanders reports. He played Esssex youth football and as a BHS student was a lacrosse star. After graduation, he descended into mental illness, homelessness, and criminal activity – and heavy consumption of cannabis. 

Mafuta in 2021 was arrested on charges of unlawful restraint, aggravated operation without the owner’s consent, grand larceny, larceny from a person, petit larceny and interference with emergency services, in connection with a carjacking at an Olive Garden in South Burlington. In August, 2022, he was arrested for allegedly breaking 33 residential windows in a morning crime spree.

Flanders reports that in December of 2020, Mafuta – then 19 – appeared at the UVMMC emergency room expressing fears that people wanted to kill him. Doctors suspected paranoid schizophrenia. Flanders – an experienced reporter who once wrote for the Essex Reporter, the community newspaper that covered Essex youth football – writes:

“It was months before clinicians would deliver such a diagnosis, though research on schizophrenia indicates that Mafuta’s age, migrant background and history of childhood abuse put him at a higher risk for developing the disease. But psychosis has many causes, and diagnosing an underlying condition takes time. A hospital psychiatrist who assessed Mafuta that December night wondered whether his symptoms might have been a result of heavy cannabis use. The specialist encouraged him to stay at the hospital until his condition improved.”

As they pondered legalizing cannabis in 2020, Vermont’s lawmakers and Gov. Scott were advised by leading Vermont pediatricians and other physicians of the mental illness threat posed by heavy consumption of high-potency cannabis. For example, a letter by pediatrician Dr. Lewis First and other leading physicians urged him to veto the bill:

“Perhaps the strongest evidence for severe mental health problems related to cannabis use is related to psychosis were multiple studies have linked regular cannabis use to an estimated doubling of the risk of a psychotic illness as well a more refractory course among people with existing psychotic illness.

Violent behavior as a result of cannabis induced paranoia and other psychotic symptoms is also an increasing concern. A 2019 study from Lancet Psychiatry found that their data indicated that “if high-potency cannabis were no longer available, 12.2% of cases of first-episode psychosis could be prevented.” across the sites they studied.”

The pediatricians also cited a strong connection between heavy cannabis use and increased visits to the ER and thoughts of suicide. Regardless, the State of Vermont and Gov. Scott eventually established a legal retail market for high-potency THC cannabis products.