General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs cannabis a "miracle" medicine?
The Potential Miracle Element in Cannabis That Changed Sanjay Gupta's Mind About the Power of Pot
Martin Lee, author of "Smoke Signals," discusses the healing powers of the cannabis plant.
September 4, 2013
As marijuana reforms sweep the nation, and states from coast to coast scramble to join Colorado and Washington in legalization of the notorious herb, it is clear the U.S. has reached a pivotal point in the marijuana dispute. Martin A. Lee's new book Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana—Medical, Recreational and Scientific provides an unprecedented history of the controversial plant.
Smoke Signals is an unmatched illustration of the science behind the cannabis plant. Perhaps the most stunning revelations in Lee's book are those focused on the little-known "Cinderella molecule" in the cannabis plant, called cannabidiol (CBD). CBD gives marijuana some of most wide-ranging healing properties in medicinal history, but doesn't get you stoned like THC.
Lee is also the director of Project CBD. His wealth of knowledge on the underappreciated molecule is vital to understanding our past and future relationship with the marijuana plant. Lee spoke with AlterNet about the miraculous healing potentials of CBD.
PLEASE READ MORE: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/potential-miracle-element-cannabis-changed-sanjay-guptas-mind-about-power-pot
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Warpy
(111,305 posts)Other people react badly to it.
There is certainly no reason to keep it as a schedule I drug with no medical uses. There are a lot of medical uses that have been known for many years.
There is also little reason to require prescriptions for it.
Declaring war on plants has always seemed to be the height of arrogant stupidity.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)the research especially on diseases like cancer. But the research coming out of Isreal is exciting.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)by isolating a few components.
Hey, don't Bogart that thing…
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)percentages of what components do what, which strains work best for which diseases. There is a lot to learn. It's a very exciting time.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)
Fly by night
(5,265 posts)The research literature on cannabis goes back 5,000 years to the first known medical (Chinese) compendium.
It doesn't take much effort to educate yourself to this massive literature. At this point in our reefer madness, any calls for "more research" remind me of the 70s, when tobacco companies were also callling for more research (to avoid responsibility for their murderous products).
We need no more research to reclassify cannabis out of Schedule 1 (as was recommended 25 years ago by DEA Judge Young) SO THAT more unfettered research can begin. Anything else is shameless, ceaseless and unsuccessful social control.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)I am all for medical cannibus. Someone very near and dear to me uses it for medical purposes. That does not mean there shouldn't be more research. If we already know it cures everything then why are we just learning it helps with Dravet's Syndrome and cancer. We don't already know it cures everything. And the truth is there is still lots to learn about the concentrations needed to help some of these diseases. As much as I am totally for medical cannibus I guess I will have to stay out the discussion like I do the GMO threads because there just is no room for rational discussion.
Fly by night
(5,265 posts)When I was a federal official at the National Cancer Institute in the mid 70s, another branch of the institute conducted a double-blind study of the anti-emetic effects of cannabis. The effects of cannabis use were so immediate (and profound) compared with placebo that the researchers suspended the study because there was no way to maintain the double-blind condition.
I don't mean to sound dismissive but there really is a massive literature available to all of us that is becoming more available every day. The "Emerging Clinical Applications" summary brochure (which I helped edit) available at this link is a good place to start educating yourself, but it is only a start.
http://norml.org/marijuana/medical
As I said earlier, removing cannabis from Schedule I will allow more unfettered (and better funded) research to be conducted in this country, just as it is in other countries now. We haven't reached the point where we need no additional research (and we will never reach that point). However, the point where that research started is way, way back in our rear-view mirrors by 2013.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)
RandiFan1290
(6,239 posts)
I'd like to see the person that has the guts to tell these parents that it's "woo"
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)stuff and putting stuff on his skin will cure him of everything. The last thing my father did was put WD40 on his knee. I truly don't understand where he gets his rationale for some of these things. He comes up with another cure every other week and he always says it helps. I think the power of suggestion is a strong placebo for him. I do believe there is great potential with medical marijuana. I know several patients who take it for glaucoma or pain or Crohn's Disease. I just want to see the research catch up that way we don't have people like my father who refuse traditional medical treatment because they believe everything they read.
NickB79
(19,257 posts)I don't know who this family is, or how they used cannibis as a cure. Thanks!
RandiFan1290
(6,239 posts)She was also featured in Dr. Gupta's special on CNN
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Shocking Results: Woman Replaces 40 Medications With Raw Cannabis Juice
Although the results may not be shocking to everyone, many people on the planet are just starting to wake up to the tremendous medicinal benefits that cannabis has to offer. A recent study conducted by the Institute of Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany just discovered that the activation of the brain’s cannabinoid system triggers the release of antioxidants that act as a cleansing mechanism. This process is known to remove damaged cells and improve the efficiency of mitochondria. Mitochondria is the energy sources that powers cells. The study was published in the Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, B (1).
There is also a large amount of evidence supporting the fact that cannabis can also be an effective treatment, and even a potential cure for cancer. We provided a list of 20 medical studies that prove cannabis can cure cancer(2). We already know that prescription drugs kill over 100,000 people each year and that a plant-based diet can prevent over 60% of chronic disease deaths. It’s time to loose our stigmatism about cannabis, the only reason we’ve been made to look at it in a negative manner is because it would threaten multiple industries (including the pharmaceutical industry). Cannabis along with hemp has over 50,000 uses and could help transform our world.
Cannabinoids have been proven to reduce cancer cells as they have a great impact on the rebuilding of the immune system(2). While not every strain of cannabis has the same effect, more and more patients are seeing success in cancer reduction in a short period of time by using cannabis. Contrary to popular thought and belief, smoking the cannabis does not assist a great deal in treating disease within the body as therapeutic levels cannot be reached through smoking. Creating oil from the plant or eating the plant is the best way to go about getting the necessary ingredients which are the cannabinoids.
READ MORE: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/09/03/shocking-results-woman-replaces-40-medications-with-raw-cannabis-juice/
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)law...
"By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
September 5, 2013 |
Friday, September 6, 2013 marks the 25-year anniversary of an administrative ruling which determined that cannabis possesses accepted medical utility and ought to be reclassified accordingly under federal law.
The ruling, issued in 1988 by US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young “ In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling,” determined: “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
Young continued: “It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.”
Judge Young concluded: “The administrative law judge recommends that the Administrator conclude that the marijuana plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, that there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision and that it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II [of the federal Controlled Substances Act].”
MORE HERE: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/25-years-ago-deas-own-administrative-law-judge-ruled-cannabis-should-be-reclassified-under
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)new study conducted by researchers at the Roskamp Institute in Florida, and published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience,MMMA LEAF AND SYMBOL_full has found that cannabis can slow the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease, and may in fact be able to halt it entirely.
According to Corbin Bachmeier, Ph.D – who’s the lead researcher of the study – Alzheimer’s Disease is “the result of impaired A? [Amyloid-? protein] clearance from the brain”. According to this study, cannabis can solve this problem, making it a potential treatment.
Here’s the study’s abstract:MORE: http://thejointblog.com/new-study-cannabis-can-slow-cure-alzheimers-disease/
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)There are overwhelmingly strong arguments for legalising marijuana for recreational use.
But the people hymning its virtues as a medicine are at best mislead and at worst misleading. It may, possibly have some limited applications, but the vast majority of the claims to that effect are ideologically motivated and grossly exaggerated.
Fly by night
(5,265 posts)"Better to remain silent and thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt."
See my posts 14 and 18 above for starters.
polichick
(37,152 posts)at least until they can patent all the healing properties and bottle them up.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)September 5, 2013 |
The following is an installment of Doug Fine's weekly column The Drug Peace Bumblebee:
I was watching this wild-haired kid run around the Colorado statehouse steps in Denver earlier this month (it happened to be the day a hemp flag was hoisted above the capitol there). Wearing the exuberantly gratified smile you expect in your ten-year-old set loose in summer, he was climbing on the cannons, collecting fallen flowers, and all around living the kid-in-the-sunshine good life. I wouldn’t have guessed that from the time that he was four-months-old and until last year, he had been suffering between 50 and several thousand seizures per day. Doctors called his a “catastrophic” version of epilepsy, known as Myoclonic-Astatic Epilepsy of Early Childhood, or DOOSE Syndrome.
Now that her son Zaki, our capitol romper, has been seizure-free for getting on eleven months, that previous period is a little bit easier for Colorado Springs, Colorado mother of two Heather Jackson to talk about. “By the time the fourth conventional drug didn’t work, you have a .8% chance of any other pharmaceutical working,” Jackson told me there on the statehouse steps. “Those are just the facts. I was desperate after the fourth drug failed – that was Felbatol.”
more: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/conservative-mother-epileptic-boy-says-her-sons-seizures-ended-cannabis-therapy
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)But it is a good, and in comparison others available possibly great medicine that needs to be legalized for medical and recreational use
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)yes and no.
BTW, a lot of "bipolars" are mis-diagnosed trauma survivors, and Mary Jane most definitely does help with many PTSD symptoms.
Uncle Joe
(58,378 posts)Thanks for the thread, Bennyboy.
Deep13
(39,154 posts)It has its effects, side effects, and limitations. As a medication it needs to be judged on its safety and effectiveness and not condemned out of hand or uncritically lauded.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
Natives used it for centuries before the "white" man got here.
What do you think was in their Peace Pipes?
People on MJ are peaceful - PNAC/MIC gang are terrified of MJ being legal.
Hell, if USAmericans were smoking up -who'd fight their wars?
ponder that.
CC
Deep13
(39,154 posts)THC is a chemical. So are DNA, sugar, and water.
Saying MJ is not a chemical is the same as saying it does not exist.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The hagiography of MJ gets silly.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)cannabidiol.
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)24-year-old Kristina Marie was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given a death sentence by establishment doctors. She decided to reject chemotherapy and treat herself with Rick Simpson’s hemp oil instead. After three MRI’s her tumors have shrunk considerably.
Follow Kristina Marie’s journey at her YouTube Channel
h/t Activist Post
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Mimi Peleg’s job is to teach people how to use pot—how long to inhale smoke or vapor, how to administer sublingual drops, or how to ration out a pot cookie.
Peleg directs large-scale cannabis training for the Israeli government’s state-supported, discreet, successful and expanding medical cannabis distribution center, MECHKAR. MECHKAR began as a tiny program serving about 1,800 people from 2008-2009. Today, supplied by eight farms located all over the country, the program distributes cannabis to 12,000 patients.
MOORE:http://www.alternet.org/drugs/medical-marijuana-industry-sprouts-israel
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I believe cannabis should be no more illegal or regulated than parsley. Buy it at the grocery store or grow your own if you happen to like gardening. 
Okay, I know I'll probably catch some flak for that - "What about the children?" Maybe put an age limit, but all this taxing and stuff, even in legal states, is stupid.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
CC
ps: imo - North America would be a better place if MJ were legal, cigarettes and booze not!
but I do like my beer - - 
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Of course you like your beer. 
.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
Just came inside from painting my addition for a and DU break.
Going back out shortly - nice sunny day here - painting my addition's roof, be a deck next year.
I can see Quebec from up there (I'm in Ontario 2 miles from the Ottawa River, the border).
Finished my break, back to the painting.
CC
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)ADD/ ADHD
Marijuana and ADD Therapeutic uses of Medical Marijuana in the treatment of ADD http://www.onlinepot.org/medical/ad...
Cannabis as a medical treatment for attention deficit disorder - http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/...
Cannabinoids effective in animal model of hyperactivity disorder http://www.cannabis-med.org/english...
Cannabis ’Scrips to Calm Kids? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933...
Addiction risk- Physical
Women’s Guide to the UofC http://wguide.uchicago.edu/9substan...
Cannabis Basics http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannab...
10 Things Every Parent, Teenager & Teacher Should Know About Marijuana (4th Q) http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannab...
Marijuana Myths, Claim No. 9 http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannab...
AIDS – see HIV
Alcoholism
Role of cannabinoid receptors in alcohol abuse http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/art...
Cannabidiol, Antioxidants, and Diuretics in Reversing Binge Ethanol-Induced Neurotoxicity http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/conte...
Cannabis substitution http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies...
Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol http://ccrmg.org/journal/03sum/subs...
http://www.encod.org/info/700-MEDICINAL-USES-OF-CANNABIS.html
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)A remarkable study published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology in 2006, found that this long vilified plant contains a compound with not one, but two therapeutic properties ideal for addressing both the surface symptom (memory problems) and root cause (brain plaque) of Alzheimer’s disease. This is an ironic finding, considering that the prevailing stereotype is that using marijuana “fries” the brain, leading to debilitating memory issues.
Researchers discovered that the psychoactive component of marijuana, ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), both “competitively inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as prevents AChE-induced amyloid ?-peptide (A?
aggregation.”
On the first account, THC’s ability to inhibit the AChE enzyme, is not unlike the mechanism of action behind most Alzheimer’s drugs on the market today. Drugs like donepezil (trade name Aricept), for instance, by targeting and inhibiting the brain enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), result in an increase in brain levels of this neurotransmitter, which in turn, results in symptom reduction, i.e. improved memory. Donepezil, however, is riddled with controversy due its well-known association with seizures, which likely reflects its intrinsic neurotoxicity. It is, in fact, a chemical in the same general chemical class as venom, insecticides and chemical war agents, such as nerve gas.
Read more at http://www.realfarmacy.com/still-think-marijuana-harms-the-memory-you-need-to-read-this/#6ZJxucVlLygVypgA.99
http://www.realfarmacy.com/still-think-marijuana-harms-the-memory-you-need-to-read-this/
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Dear Editor: The scourge of heroin addiction in his family recently spurred the introduction of a slate of bills by Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, to address the issue in Wisconsin.
Illness of a family member or loved one has inspired many bills. Everyone knows someone touched by addiction, accident or serious illness. Wisconsin medical cannabis legislation carries the name of Jacki Rickert of Mondovi, who has endured a lifetime of painful conditions. Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, last week rolled out their updated Jacki Rickert Medical Cannabis Act (JRMCA).
The "gateway theory" that wrongly tagged cannabis as a stepping stone to addiction has long been discredited. The truth is cannabis, in addition to numerous medical uses and health benefits, is long documented as a gateway back from addiction.
The late Dr. Tod H. Mikuriya wrote in his 1969 book, "Marijuana in Medicine," how cannabis was documented as a substitute for opiates in the late 1800s. After pot became widely available in the late 1960s, many alcoholics began to substitute cannabis for alcohol and research has found it can protect from brain damage incurred by binge drinking as well.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/gary-storck-medical-cannabis-a-gateway-back-from-addiction/article_36a946ca-3dc5-5ed9-a8dc-c1e201feca5d.html#ixzz2hLY3KuvK
Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/gary-storck-medical-cannabis-a-gateway-back-from-addiction/article_36a946ca-3dc5-5ed9-a8dc-c1e201feca5d.html#ixzz2hLXbpcmQ
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)The Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology has published a study showing that marijuana contains chemical compounds that could help treat Multiple Sclerosis-like diseases by preventing inflammation in the spinal cord and brain.
For this particular study the researcher's, Drs. Ewa Kozela, Ana Juknat, Neta Rimmerman and Zvi Vogel of Tel Aviv University's, and Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson from the Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, took immune cells isolated from paralyzed mice that specifically target and harm the brain and spinal cord, and treated them with either CBD or THC.
In both instances, the laboratory mice's immune cells created fewer inflammatory molecules, principally one referred to as interleukin 17, or IL-17, which is powerfully related to multiple sclerosis and quite destructive to nerve cells.
"Inflammation is part of the body's natural immune response, but in cases like MS it gets out of hand," Dr. Kozela explained. "Our study looks at how compounds isolated from marijuana can be used to regulate inflammation to protect the nervous system and its functions."
MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-/cannabidiol-could-help-tr_b_4082429.html
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)There’s still a lot of confusion across the nation about whether or not marijuana is effective for cancer patients. Odds are you’ve heard something about it but weren’t sure whether the information was reliable or definitive. So, in order to help clear things up, here is a list of 34 studies showing that marijuana cures cancer, categorized by the type of cancers being cured in each study. As you sort through the articles, note that the consistent theme between them is that cannabis shrinks tumors and selectively targets cancer cells. As bills and voter initiatives to legalize medical marijuana spread from state to state, remember that we’re not just talking about mitigating the side effects of chemo (though this is another viable use), we’re talking about curing the cancer itself as well as preventing its spread. I’ve taken the liberty of only including
Cures Brain Cancer
READ MORE: http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/07/27/34-medical-studies-proving-cannabis-cures-cancer/
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)By Fred Gardner October 22, 2013
In response to urgent need expressed by parents of children with intractable epilepsy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing Investigational New Drug studies of purified CBD (cannabidiol) as an anti-seizure medication. The “new drug” is being provided to physician-investigators by GW Pharmaceuticals, which has named its CBD product “Epidiolex™.”
To date FDA has approved intermediate-sized INDs sponsored by Orrin Devinsky, MD, at the NYU School of Medicine, and Roberta Cilio, MD, PhD, at UCSF —each set up to follow 25 patients using Epidiolex™ as a treatment for pediatric epilepsy— plus two individual INDs by Cilio. More INDs await FDA approval. [Style note: the jargon calls for dropping the word "study" after IND, just as the word "proposal" gets dropped when researchers speak of "writing a grant.”] Devinsky and Cilio both made presentations at a conference on “Cannabidiols: potential use in epilepsy and other neurological disorders,” held at NYU October 4.
READ MORE: http://www.beyondthc.com/comes-now-epidiolex-fda-approves-ind-studies-of-cbd/
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)A scientist in the United Kingdom has found that compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells found in people with leukemia, a form of cancer that is expected to cause an estimated 24,000 deaths in the United States this year.
"Cannabinoids have a complex action; it hits a number of important processes that cancers need to survive," study author Dr. Wai Liu, an oncologist at the University of London's St. George medical school, told The Huffington Post. "For that reason, it has really good potential over other drugs that only have one function. I am impressed by its activity profile, and feel it has a great future, especially if used with standard chemotherapies."
Liu's study was recently published in the journal Anticancer Research. It was supported by funding from GW Pharmaceuticals, which already makes a cannabis-derived drug used to treat spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis.
MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/marijuana-cancer_n_4158865.html?utm_hp_ref=science&ir=Science
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)The discovery of pot’s astonishing medical potential is the most compelling new reason for legalizing the plant.
November 6, 2013 |
The following article first appeared in the Nation Magazine. http://www.thenation.com/
For many years, the federal government has subsidized studies designed to prove the negative effects of marijuana, while blocking inquiry into its potential benefits. Ironically, the government’s steadfast search for harm has yielded remarkable scientific insights that explain why cannabis is such a versatile remedy and why it is the most sought-after illicit substance on the planet.
Cannabis and the unique chemical compounds produced by the plant, called cannabinoids, have been at the center of one of the most exciting—and underreported—developments in modern science. Research on marijuana’s effects led directly to the discovery of a molecular signaling system in the human brain and body, the endocannabinoid system, which plays a crucial role in regulating a broad range of physiological processes: hunger, sleep, inflammation, stress, blood pressure, body temperature, glucose metabolism, bone density, intestinal fortitude, reproductive fertility, circadian rhythms, mood and much more.
Within the scientific community, the discovery of the endocannabinoid system is increasingly recognized as a seminal advance in our understanding of human biology. The Rubicon was crossed in 1988, when a government-funded study at the St. Louis University School of Medicine determined that the mammalian brain has an abundance of receptor sites—specialized protein molecules embedded in cell membranes—that respond pharmacologically to compounds in cannabis
READ MORE MUCH MORE: http://www.alternet.org/marijuana-miracle-5-exciting-new-discoveries-about-pot
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Great article which I can't seem to copy, but lots of citing etc...
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/03/the-top-4-medical-studies-that-prove-cannabis-can-cure-brain-cancer/
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Families migrate to Colorado for marijuana miracle
Piper's retinas are dotted with small holes, a marker of her epileptic condition, but she responds to toys with bright lights. Her parents, Tennesseans Annie and Justin Koozer moved to Colorado to obtain a seizure-stopping cannabis extract produced by the Realm of Caring Foundation.
The waiting list for the cannabis extract includes about 30 kids in Utah whose parents hope to import what they consider an ‘herbal’ remedy.
By kirsten stewart
DENVER » Piper rolls back and forth across a large blanket on the living room floor, windmilling her arms and kicking her legs.
"Who’s a happy girl?" asks her mom, Annie Koozer, kneeling over the 2-year-old with a small, oil-filled syringe. Piper fusses as Annie squirts a tiny amount into the side of her mouth.
"What do you think about that? That’s not too bad, especially if it makes you feel better," says Annie.
It could take days or weeks before Annie and her husband, Justin Koozer, know whether the medicine controls Piper’s debilitating seizures. But waiting is familiar ground for the young Tennessee family that has tried virtually every pharmaceutical fix available, traveled 1,300 miles to get here and waited more than two months for what may be their best and final hope: cannabis.
READ MORE: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57052556-78/piper-annie-seizures-cbd.html.csp?page=1
Bennyboy
(10,440 posts)Staff Sargent Mike Whiter says prescription drugs are contributing to veteran suicides—and marijuana saves lives.
November 12, 2013 |
After Staff Sargent Mike Whiter returned home from serving his country, he tried to kill himself three times.
Whiter served in the US Marines for 11 years, including combat tours in Kosovo and Iraq. After his medical discharge, Whiter sought help from the Veterans Administration for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as his physical injuries.
“They put me on 36 different medications in 6 years,” recalls Whiter. “I was on methadone and morphine, benzos, klonopin, xanax, SSRIs…You name a drug, I’ve been on it. I couldn’t sleep, I was having nightmares, I couldn’t leave my house – I was afraid to leave my house.”
Whiter believes that prescription drugs, particularly SSRIs, are contributing to veteran suicides. “SSRIs have suicide listed as a side effect,” Whiter explains. “And they’re giving these pills to people who are already suicidal.”
MORE: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/medical-marijuana-can-be-much-needed-miracle-vets-ptsd
