Marijuana For Trauma-Stricken Soldiers Returning From Iraq? One Proposal Wants to Study Effects of Weed on PTSD Victims
Should soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan get treated for post-traumatic stress disorder with ... weed?
MAPS
A proposal to study whether or not marijuana can help vets cope with PTSD is gaining steam. The New York Times took a look at the idea from the California-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies this week.
Whether or not to green-light the study is up to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NYT says this:
The proposal, from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Santa Cruz, Calif., and a researcher at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, would look at the potential benefits of cannabis by examining 50 combat veterans who suffer from the condition and have not responded to other treatment.
If the study gets the go ahead researchers can use the only federally legal weed available -- the cannabis grown at the University of Mississippi under the watchful eye of the government.
MAPS chief Rick Doblin (an old source of ours) says:
With so many veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a widely accepted need for a new treatment of PTSD... These are people whom we put in harm's way, and we have a moral obligation to help them.
The administration of President Obama has had a love-hate relationship with medical marijuana, however, and we'd be surprised to see this approved.
Anyway, haven't you ever heard of a marijuana flashback? It's not like these guys need more of that, especially with today's ever-more-powerful weed.
[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
