Veterans Fight for Legal Marijuana
By Steven M -
Mar 6, 2018
The fight for marijuana has been longstanding, and met with many hardships along the way but not without its successes as well. One of the groups in the U.S. that has continued to fight for their right to use cannabis has been the veterans. Veterans want the option to use cannabis for several reasons. The main reason remains that cannabis is a fantastic alternative and often considered a miracle drug when looked at against others such as opioids for pain management. Many of the ailments that affect veterans on a day to day basis can be subdued by a large amount with the use of cannabis.
One of the main ailments that affects veterans continues to be that of PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This disorder can often lead to individuals committing suicide just to deal with the day to day pain that they suffer. Marijuana has been shown to be a viable option for individuals who struggle with this disease, and has shown to help them by a large amount. In addition, marijuana has the potential to greatly affect a large amount of the side effects of the ailments that they face such as pain and chronic depression.
One of the main issues with the use of marijuana for veterans is the fact that it is still considered a schedule I narcotic by the federal government. This means that doctors at Veteran hospitals are not allowed to recommend the substance although it has been proven to be one of the best medicines for certain conditions. Twenty-one year Army and Air Force Veteran Matthew Rumple recently stated that “we have more of the worst drugs in our systems now than that could ever do to us.” The crisis with doctors prescribing medicine is something that often ails the veterans even more than weed could ever do.
One of the main drugs that doctors prescribe for patients with certain ailments such as chronic pain is opioid based medicine. These drugs are highly addictive and often lead to an addiction after the prescription has run its course. One of the other issues with prescribing opiate based medicine is the fact that it does not even work that well. Studies show that after a few weeds of using opioid based medicine, the drugs effects tend to ware off as the patient develops a tolerance. This means that the medicine will not work after a period of time. This however, leaves the individual in quite a bad place. Usually, those who are prescribed these drugs end up needing more to avoid the symptoms of withdrawal that often come with them. The veteran above stated that in regard to the medicine they are prescribed “Psychotropic drug, painkiller, blood pressure. Anytime they give you something, they’re going to give you an additional medication to counteract the side effects from the first one. It has become a nightmare. For a lot of guys, it starts their world of opioids.” Looking at the information, it is clear that marijuana could become a very viable alternative to these drugs in the near future.
Marijuana has proved to be a great medicine for pain and other disabilities that individuals coming back from war would face. The science is in, and it shows that on its own and compared to drugs based in opiates, it is the best option. The hopes are that legalization in the sector will begin to be put in place. With certain individuals in the government blocking legislation, it will only be a short amount of time before veterans and other individuals are able to get the treatment they need. The hopes are high that the future will be met with a large amount of research on cannabis to help it work its way into the future of medicine.
