I’VE NEVER BEEN in the military. It would have been a poor fit for me: I look bad in camo, and the idea of carrying a backpack with 80-plus pounds of gear in high heat sounds really bad. Plus, the whole killing/not being killed thing.
However, I have tremendous respect and awe for those who have enlisted and who serve their country in ways that many of us will never be able to begin to understand.
I’m a strong advocate for doing all we can to support returning veterans, especially when you consider what a pathetic job this country does in caring for them. Veterans have a much higher suicide rate than the civilian population. Many of those who commit suicide suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), a severe mental health condition caused by experiencing or seeing a terrifying event. That doesn’t mean watching Donald Trump have sex (although that may qualify). It’s more frequently associated with things like natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and military combat.
There are not a great number of drug therapies for PTSD available, and what’s out there doesn’t always work terribly well. But there is something that does work, and it’s—that’s right!—cannabis. A number of studies, both domestic and foreign, show that THC and CBD have profound effects in treating PTSD.
How? PTSD sufferers have built up an “endocannabinoid deficiency,” making bad things tough to forget. Martin Lee, director of Project CBD writes that “normal CB-1 receptor signaling deactivates traumatic memories and endows it with the gift of forgetting. But skewed CB-1 signaling, due to endocannabinoid deficits… results in impaired fear extinction, aversive memory consolidation, and chronic anxiety, the hallmarks of PTSD.”
Of the 23 states that have medical cannabis programs, only five allow PTSD as a qualifying condition, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Colorado recently rejected PTSD as a qualifying condition, the third time the state has done so. That means you can qualify if you have chronic pain, but not chronic nightmares, panic attacks, and/or insomnia.
Patients with PTSD report achieving significant relief using products with a ratio of 4:1 CBD/THC. That’s easiest to get via edibles, including sprays and chews, which allow for a more precise crafting of exact ratios.
If you suffer from PTSD and are not living in one of the 18 states that allow you to try herbal relief, obtaining them makes you a criminal. Fistfuls of opiates are readily available, however, because… um… they just are, okay?
We are going to continue to send our young people to war. They are going to continue to get fucked up while there. The least we can do is provide them side effect-free treatments when they return. And if there is anything we excel at, it’s providing veterans with the very least we can.
I have been traumatized by pot brownies and bong rips though so… definitely needs to be dosed properly
A couple of freaks came back to Portland from Nam in ’69 and told of stuffing their duffle bags with Vietnamese flowers for the equivalent of fifty cents American. I’ve never tried it, but I do hear tell that Vietnam Black is extremely psychedelic and tends to induce temporary paranoia. Ace Seeds offers it. Reeferman crossed it with Nepalese, and Willie Nelson liked it so much that Charles Scott named the strain after him.
Hey Creamdream – Agreed, a proper dose is crucial. That said, the ratio of 4:1 of CBD:THC reduces the psychoactive effects tremendously, making it very unlikely that trauma would occur. It helps that CBDs reduce the amount of THC taken in by the neuroreceptors. Thanks for reading!
Psychoactive effects are not necessarily traumatic and CBD does have psychoactive effects, albeit predominately different ones from THC. However, that’s still an over simplification. There are at least 85 different cannabinoids isolated from cannabis, exhibiting varied effects. That’s why each strain has it’s own unique trip. Lebanese blonde hash is high in CBD, but real psychedelic. Most Havvai’ian strains are Sativa which is high in THC with almost zero CBD, yet is extremely relaxing and quite euphoric without sedation, while not necessarily the most hallucinogenic. Even hallucinogenic strains don’t necessarily induce anxiety.
Cannabis is an herb, a complex of compounds, which vary from strain to strain. Pure THC is a drug, and it ain’t worth a shit. It’s no good as medicine and it sure as Hell don’t get you high.
A patient with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, might not desire to be sedated with CBD, but pure Havvai’ian is impossible to find, unless you’re a local. Chocolope, by DNA Genetics Seeds, is predominately Havvai’ian, as is Lemon Thai Kush, by Humboldt Seed Organization.
http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Chocol…
Okay, the ultimate herb for PTSD must be Punta Roja Colombian. It’s not the most powerful, nor the most hallucinogenic, and it has an exceptionally long flowering time, but it’s a pure Sativa, near zero CBD, and extremely euphoric. It’s total bliss, relaxing yet energizing; good for introspective creative endeavors, as well as jamming with musicians, socializing, dancing, martial arts, and hiking.
It’s offered by Cannabiogen Seeds, regular only, not feminized, but select the most virile male and pollinate some of the lower colas of the finest female, with a paint brush, for enough good seeds to perpetuate crops indefinitely. That way you’ll still have plenty of sensimilla from the pollinated plant.
http://www.sensibleseeds.com/idevaffiliate…
Punta Roja, found feral in Columbia
@13:43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwRIZHOHBL…
Punta Roja is the highland red Colombian, not to be confused with the inferior, commercial, lowland red that was most prevalent in the US after the War on Drugs used paraquat to wipe out the intensely psychedelic, Michoacán and the Feds busted the main man who imported the equally trippy, Panama Red.
My dad was taking so many tranquilizers that the VA just sent him a bag of 1000 by mail, every 90 days. He was supposed to refrain from weed, Dr’s orders.
“Drugs are bad, mmmkay”
I feel like I could have written the opening paragraphs to this (until all the science-y stuff cause, you know, I see shiny objects and get distracted). One wonders how easily a kind cousin might send a bag of edibles to someone in, say, Florida without detection. I say easily but would never attempt such a thing myself.
There seems to be a bit of conflicting information here:
“Of the 23 states that have medical cannabis programs, only five allow PTSD as a qualifying condition…”
“If you…are not living in one of the 18 states that allow you to try herbal relief…”
Which is it?
No State permits Cannabis use. There is no law against Cannabis, either. There is legislation of so-called, “Marijuana,” however, but that no more exists than does gay homosexual marriage. Law is based upon the proper use of English grammar, and any arrests for Marijuana can be summarily dismissed as a defective misnomer.
That being said, not all States which permit the misnomer Medical Marijuana do not all approve it for the same maladies.
The VA does nothing for chronic pain anymore. Ever since the DEA cracked down on the use of pain killers, veterans that sacrificed their health for this country can’t even get relief from their constant pain from injuries sustained while serving our country. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, but we won’t do anything for the agonizing pain you suffer daily from your injuries. The VA is a joke! The Pain Management program tells us that we will be disqualified if we use Cannabis, yet all they did for me was tell me to stretch. WTF?! How is stretching going to fix 5 bulging disc which all interface with nerves, chronic headaches which are so bad sometimes that I have to go to the hospital, knees that are on the verge of needing to be replaced, and the list goes on.
I know for a fact that THC does help with PTSD. What it does is it allows you to go into a deep sleep (Level 3). When PTSD affects you the most is when you are constantly at the dream stage (Level 2) rarely allowing the person affected to go into deep sleep. The dream stage allows the suppressed memories to come to the surface in your subconscious turning those suppressed memories into dreams. Dreams that feel so real because you are reliving every moment that you work so hard not to remember. People that were killed, things that you are not allowed to talk about, and friends that never made it back which you believe that you could have saved. Veterans that use THC for sleep may have 1 PTSD dream a week compared to 3-4 a night normally.
The VA is corrupt as Hell, but no different than any other hospital, clinic, or physician under managed care, with regard to your example. Drugs are expensive and no entity wants to pay. Also, the War on Drugs is prosecuted domestically by the DEA which licenses physicians, having them all so scared and intimidated that they won’t risk being accused of being a doctor feelgood. Furthermore, a lot of physicians don’t know shit about Cannabis. What do you expect, anyway, that Medicaid and Blue Cross are going to pay for grass? Dream on. Just grow your own and smoke all you want.
HollywoodJP79 makes an interesting point, however, about a sedative strain being good for sleep, ameliorating nightmares.
Patients with anxiety might benefit from a more sedative strain, while patients with depression may find themselves more depressed with such a strain. Energizing strains can be good for depression, but liable to create more uneasiness in patients with anxiety. Hybrid Sativa/Indica strains can be effective for more difficult to treat patients that have both symptoms of depression and anxiety, but it’s best to keep the dosage to a minimum.