I’ll Pass on the Medical Grass to Treat PTSD
Marijuana grown for medical purposes is shown inside a greenhouse at a farm in Potter Valley, Calif. Eric Risberg/AP File Photo
By
Bob Brewin
Sounds too much like street grass, which didn’t help.
When I left the Marine Corps in 1967, I decided to treat my combat stress with copious amounts of alcohol backed up by the drugs of the times, including marijuana, with an eye toward short-term relief.
A decade later, booze and drugs had become my way of life – instead of bridges over its problems, including combat stress.
I had to let all those substances go and find what I still consider the best kind of help for my problems then and now – talking therapy with those who have been there, done that, and managed to come out the other side free and alive.
Today a new crop of veterans is told that medical marijuana could be the key to resolving their PTSD problems, with a federal green light for new study announced this week.
New Mexico, where I live, has fully embraced the medical marijuana PTSD cure – which I don’t quite understand.
Illegal marijuana did no good – and in fact worsened – my combat stress in the 60s and 70s. How does linguistic sleight of hand in 2014 change anything, except to make it easier to get stoned with “medical” rather than street grass?
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