Colorado Defeats Bill to Treat PTSD with Medical Marijuana

Bad job Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, you are against veterans, they will die because of your decisions, they will commit crimes because they are addicted to alcohol and government drugs.

(DENVER) - An amendment by Representative Sal Pace relating to medical marijuana and post-traumatic stress disorder was defeated in Colorado today. Denver's Westword Blogs reports that the Marijuana Policy Project's Steve Fox isn't happy about it.

Today the judiciary committee heard HB 1284, a bill intended to regulate the medical marijuana industry. Representative Sal Pace offered an amendment to add post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the list of ailments that can be treated by medical marijuana.

This is a practice already underway in both Israel and Canada for veterans with PTSD.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which has been providing legislators with a fact sheet arguing, "There is no evidence of efficacy of marijuana for treatment of PTSD in the medical literature. In fact, the published literature suggests that such use leads to addiction and abuse of other substances."

This stand frustrates Steve Fox, director of state campaigns for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, who not only refutes this statement but points out that New Mexico has approved medical marijuana for PTSD treatment.

"In New Mexico, there's a medical advisory board that examined PTSD as a condition for medical marijuana patients and recommended that it be added as a qualifying condition," Fox says.

"The secretary of the health department there looked at the evidence and agreed that it should be available for patients. But in Colorado, there doesn't seem to be any desire to examine the evidence. The standards the health department has set up is almost like an FDA-approval standard, where they're not going to approve any condition unless there are rigorous studies demonstrating its usefulness," he continues.

"And while that would be nice, it's well known that the federal government has stood in the way of effective trials for decades. That's why we have medical marijuana approved on the state level -- because the federal government has blocked trials."

In Fox's opinion, this policy means the Colorado health department will continue to oppose the use of medical marijuana in PTSD treatment despite information available from the state directly to the south.

"If they would simply speak to people in New Mexico, where PTSD is the most common qualifying condition for medical marijuana treatment at this point, they would know it's helpful," he argues. "It's being recommended by psychiatrists" -- as Pace's amendment would require -- "and patients are truly benefiting from it. But they seem to have a callous disregard for this evidence."

In truth there is more than ample evidence of marijuana'a effectiveness in treating PTSD. To vote against it is purely to vote against the options for veterans, and for their welfare. Our writer Dr. Phil Leveque has written extensively about the usefulness, life restoring qualities of this natural plant in treating PTSD.

Without medical marijuana, PTSD veterans turn to alcohol, which destroys their livers and home lives, and they are prescribed morphine based drugs by the VA which are thoroughly addicting. They are ruined by their country; one without the decency to allow a simple natural treatment for the stress of war.

Your ignorance is damaging and will take a toll in human victims. I hope the veterans all disregard the VA rules and, if they need it, use it anyway. That might be the only time in my life that I have suggested the non sanctioned use of medical pot, but if the system can't keep veterans alive, then someone else has to.

To read the full, informative article from the Denver Westword Blog, visit this link:

Articles by Salem-News.com's Dr. Phil Leveque, all easily found on Salem-News.com and Google:

Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

Audit the Audit

Welcome Home, Tom

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

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tgtree88 January 14, 2012 8:13 am (Pacific time)

We have recently begun to accept new members for 2011-2012 and walk-ins are always welcome. We have lowered our pricing and now offer a 10% discount for Veterans and Students (with valid ID) and HIV and Cancer patients. (All our TOP SHELF 1/8’s are capped at $40). Since opening our doors in 2009 our Denver dispensary has stood by our product and offered a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. http://www.tgtree.com/

Michael March 24, 2010 12:46 pm (Pacific time)

Salem News, Thanks for your story. It is time for our government to stand up and begin research into this medicine/treatment. A soldier should never have a door slammed in their face.

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