Veterans Criminalized for Cannabis Used to Treat Service-Related Injuries
Philadelphia, Pa - Chris Mueller is just one of the 1 in 5 returning veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq that are diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but like many returning veterans he is faced with the choice of taking a large quantity of pills to deal with his service-related injuries or an alternative medication that takes care of many of his issues with just one substance, but is illegal in most states.
The problem for Mueller is two fold. First, it is still illegal in Pennsylvania, the second is that he is on probation, stemming from a protest of the discrimination he’s faced as a veteran with PTSD and TBI and his possession of a small amount of cannabis and associated paraphernalia, to treat his symptoms.
So far, just 11 states have added PTSD and TBI to the list of reasons a doctor is allowed to prescribe medical marijuana with Washington State being the latest to do so, Pennsylvania is not included on that list.
In fact Pennsylvania isn’t even one of the 23 states that allow cannabis for medical use at all in spite of the overwhelming research and anecdotal evidence that its benefits outweigh its risks for a whole host of conditions.
“Marijuana saved my life, I was heading down a dark path drinking heavily, which led to homelessness for many years, I didn’t want anything to do with society, and I didn’t want anything to do with the drugs the VA gives out like candy,” said former combat medic Forrest Bibbee.
In spite of the research, marijuana is listed right alongside other more dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine as a schedule 1 drug. Listing marijuana as a schedule 1 drug asserts that there is no medical value for cannabis.
Something that current research is showing to be wholeheartedly untrue, marijuana as a medicine is being shown to improve the lives and conditions of a whole host of illnesses from relieving problems associated with chemotherapy, to decreasing seizures in people with epilepsy and relieving many of the problems associated with PTSD and TBI for returning veterans.
Returning veterans often have many issues that they are dealing with ranging from physical injuries to psychological problems associated with combat and other traumas, leading them to have to take large quantities of pharmaceuticals. Often these combinations have conflicting interactions and potentially severe side effects that reduce the quality of life for veterans and add further risks to their health and safety.
One of the pharmaceuticals that is often given to returning veterans for a variety of reasons is Seroquel. Often times it is given for the off brand purpose of relieving insomnia stemming from PTSD.
Seroquel has a side effect that isn’t mentioned in any of the FDA data but is often reported by patients as what is called sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a condition that causes people with it to wake unable to move for a brief period of time, ranging from seconds to a few minutes, but being in its grips can be a very terrifying experience, particularly for someone suffering from PTSD.
“The VA had me on at least 15 different medications, I had to ask each of the different doctors I needed to see if each of those medications countered other medications, at the end of it, I was left feeling like a zombie, often losing whole weeks, and most of my money, which I was lending out to help people and then forgetting about, I don’t do that anymore,” said Chris Mueller.
In spite of the dramatic improvement in Mueller’s condition, if he continues to use marijuana to treat his PTSD and TBI symptoms, he could be facing jail time for violating his probation in Montgomery County, PA.
At this point, Mueller has three choices, the first is to continue using cannabis to treat his PTSD and TBI symptoms and go to jail; he can go to Oregon, one of the few states that will give him a prescription if he tells them he intends to move there, which would still potentially violate his probation, or he can quit using what works for him and return to the heavy regiment of VA prescribed drugs.
“I don’t want to go to jail for fighting for my right to be healthy, but this country has a problem with treating those who defend it and the rights of people who live here as second class citizens, they stigmatize us as being crazy for having a normal human reaction to violence and trauma and then shove drugs down our throats that would keep us from returning to some semblance of a normal life,” said Mueller.
As federal and state governments continue debating what many veterans and other patient groups will tell you is working for them, those who use cannabis to treat the symptoms of a whole host of diseases from PTSD and TBI, to cancer and Crohn's Disease will continue to be victimized for their refusal to accept being forced into using deadly pharmaceuticals.
“I’m tired of waiting around watching the government drag its feet to help vets, we’re losing more than 50 American heroes every day to suicide and prescription drug overdoses because the VA’s position continues to keep them in a drug induced stupor,” said Roger Martin, founder of Grow4Vets.
Here’s the kicker in all of this, the vast majority of Americans support full legalization of marijuana, in PA alone the support for medical cannabis is at 90 percent and yet more than half of the states and the federal government refuse to legalize this highly beneficial and relatively benign drug.
So returning veterans like Mueller, who wish to pursue a healthy, alternative to potentially deadly pharmaceuticals will have to risk having their symptoms made worse by being thrown in jail.
That is, unless sweeping legislation can be passed at the federal and state level to do away with these harmful, discriminatory and backward laws that punish people for using legitimate medications that they need, merely for the sake of pharmaceutical companies profit margins and the maintenance of that social failure known as the drug war and the profits derived from mass incarceration.
