Veterans and Pot

I was at the Seattle Cannabis Cup last weekend and made it a point to catch the panel for Veterans. I am a Desert Storm Veteran and there are a bunch of us in the industry. The panelists were an interesting selection from Michigan and Vancouver. It really needed some local flavor. With some panelists who wore lab coats and some that wore combat boots. It was great finding guys that have walked a mile in my boots. I went almost 20 years without knowing anyone from my unit was still alive. There have been times where I have adopted other brother in arms to keep them or myself moving forward. It is rough to get through however with work our brothers don’t have to go through the destruction that we did.
This is important. If you or a loved one is experiencing PTSD then get some help. Seriously, most of us walk away because of not wanting to deal with more service crap. I am going to tell you that waking up with night terrors suck, getting a flashback from a laser rock show sucks, constantly scanning crowd’s sucks, and feeling negative about everything sucks, etc. If you want to end the world of suck or help end the world of suck then you are going to need help.

I want to talk first about Steven Lull and Dakota Serna. They are out of Michigan and have a great cause. Help, healing Veteran’s with music and medical marijuana. If you can send their Green Union project some love then please do. Their Facebook page. It was rough hearing about the same BS on how poorly Veterans are treated by the VA and the end result of having to walk away and do self-treatment. There are only a few Veterans that will talk about those problems of attempting to drown problems with booze and pills only destroy our lives. Yes, in my 20s I had two people quit drinking because they tried to keep up with my drinking. Some of us found other ways to heal ourselves.
The big question, How do we get Dr Sue Sisley to Washington state to do research? She was at the edge of doing clinical research on the effects of Cannabis on PTSD veterans that were not responding to treatment. She had the money and ready to go when a non-veteran politican decided to do everything in his power to get her fired and the research terminated. With I502 in place and tax money rolling in, 50% was suppose to go to Washington Basic Health. That program went away in 2013 as the Affordable Care Act went into place. We could use the funds to support a Washington Cannabis Research or even help support low income medical patients purchase medical cannabis. What about putting our industry's money to use for what it was intended, people needing healthcare?
The three big things that can help a Veteran get out of the world of pain that is PTSD.
1. Fellowship. The more that you are plugged into a community then the better off you will be. The darkest hours will be when you are alone or even worse with people who haven’t seen the terror that man can create. I cannot stress how important it is to find a battle buddy to pull you through when you feel you can’t get up. There will be times that they help you and times that you help them.
2. Cannabis. This can help. It has something to do with Cannabinoids and how they interact with the human body. The National Cancer Institute recognizes benefits of Cannabis.The US Government is starting to study how Marijuana affects PTSD. There are strains that work better than others for PTSD. Why do we have fewer suicides with Cannabis use? Why do we have fewer deaths Opioid deaths with Cannabis use?
3. When you make it up to your feet, it is your duty to help the other guy up. Seriously, service doesn’t stop when you make it to the big PX. We all break but are only broken if we stop helping out.

One of the most therapeutic times in my life was when I spent in Clear Lake California. We ran chainsaws and cut fire wood during the day. After we sold our firewood, we would head to the Eagles for a cold beer. At night around the campfire we would blaze up under the stars and talk about what ever demons would come into our head before we crawled in our bedding to start the cycle again. It didn’t matter that my buddies were from a different war or different ages. It mattered that we could share the experience and move forward in our lives after leaving there.
We need to keep more Veterans alive and healthy. We need more groups that are willing to work with Veterans and PTSD. I don’t talk about it much because remembering the world of suck because it does hurt. It hurts but I can still keep going. If it helps one more of my brothers and sisters to keep going, one more legislature to adopt a friendly position for the cannabis industry or a doctor to try and ease a patients suffering then I have helped another Veteran get closer to standing on their feet.