A FATHER whose teenage addict son chopped off his own penis and stabbed his mother is backing a campaign to reclassify skunk as a class A drug.

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

He was high on a potent strain of cannabis at the time.

His father, who asked to remain anonymous, described his son’s psychotic episode, which he believes was triggered by smoking skunk, a strong variant of cannabis grown using chemicals.

He is now supporting a campaign launched by Lord Monson, whose son killed himself in similar circumstances earlier this year, to have the strain reclassified as a Class A drug.

Skunk is up to 30 times more powerful than traditional cannabis.

In an interview with BBC Five Live, the father, known only as 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 shortly before his breakdown.

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 described what happened on the night.

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

The boy’s mother survived the attack and dialled 999.

The father said: “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 has mental health issues.

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