Medical Marijuana: Monstrous Calumny

Phillip Leveque spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician and Toxicologist.

Upwards of 300,000 American troops already suffer from PTSD Photo: DoD

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Ever since the Civil War and probably even before that, for example, the poor slobs at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War where the soldiers were freezing, starving and dying, just like the Battle of the Bulge and the Korean War, the guys in the front lines were doing the suffering but the “waffle butts” way back of the front lines eating well and sleeping warm were making believe that a "little bit of hardship" would really "toughen up" the fighters, and it was probably good for them.

There is nothing like trying to shrink into your steel helmet during an artillery or mortar barrage in freezing cold to really toughen up the soldier and have him wonder why in hell he volunteered for all this crap.

In December 2006, the Pentagon released new guidelines allowing soldiers to be redeployed to Iraq even though they were suffering from traumatic stress disorders. This was printed in the Army newspaper, STARS AND STRIPES, which further sets in concrete that whoever is presumably running the Pentagon is trying to deceive everybody that PTSD is not a problem and that it is "treatable" (POORLY).

The disability rate from PTSD will be much greater than the war caused physically disabled which now number more than 15,000. Even the V.A. estimates the numbers at 300,000. They will not all be severe but using the Vietnam Veterans as an example, 60,000 of them are purported to have committed suicide. The psychological and financial burden on their families is a factor which the Pentagon isn’t even considering, and the V.A. has already admitted that it cannot cope with it.

What is the worst is that according to Linda Blimes on Harvards Kennedy School of Government, published in Psychiatric News that even the V.A. spokesman states that "waiting lists (for treatment) are so long as to render care in—accessible."

To even think that these guys are being redeployed stretches understanding way beyond belief. Recently, the V.A. Inspector General reported that 1,000 Veterans per year commit suicide. The figure is probably much more than that to spare their families humiliation and stress of this terrible additional problem.

In the meantime, even the psychiatrists and psychologists have come to the conclusion (if they are ethical and honest) that neither the currently used pharmaceuticals and very limited counseling and group therapy are not working.

It is time to ask the PTSD veterans what works and let them have it.

Dr. William Scheiter, Chief of Surgery, at San Francisco General Hospital said it well. "This is going to be a lifelong challenge for the individuals who have suffered these injuries."

Amen.

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Phillip Leveque is a physician, toxicologist and WWII Combat Infantryman. Watch for his video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King.
You can email your questions to the doctor: newsroom@salem-news.com

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Patricia Sullivan July 13, 2007 11:01 am (Pacific time)

Medical Marijuana is not the answer. Our soldiers are beinging addicted to all types of pain medication courtesy of the military. Marijuana, is by no means, a benign drug and our soldiers should be given alternative therapies to help them heal not an addictive drug.

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S.LaMarche; July 6, 2007 5:24 pm (Pacific time)

so it seems a logical time to Legalize It!

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