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Home Grown or Big Pharma

By Billy X. Curmano

Suicide among the military and veterans has reached epidemic proportions. It would seem obvious every avenue of prevention would be thoroughly explored and yet Federal drug laws have hindered some very promising research with marijuana for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The June 2015 cover of National Geographic magazine boldly proclaims, "Weed The New Science of Marijuana" with an issue largely devoted to the theme. Much of the best research is carried out in other countries because of US law. A lab in Spain has not only shown evidence that cannabinoids are possibly anti-cancer agents, but that they can also protect the brain from trauma. Biochemist Manuel Guzman heads the lab and is quoted in National Geographic:

"And you have to forget what is not good for your mental health — a war, a trauma, an aversive memory of some kind. The cannabinoid system is crucial in helping us push bad memories away."

Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who was offered the position of US Surgeon General by President Obama has stated he was initially concerned about the potential for substance abuse with legalized marijuana until he researched it and found "..it doesn't have a high potential for abuse. Nobody overdoses on weed."

Dr. Gupta continued in this September's Playboy interview, "Look around the world. Israel has done some incredible research in this area. We visited and talked with scientists like Dr. Raphael Mechoulam about marijuana's anti-cancer effects and the benefits for those suffering from PTSD."

The Fed classifies marijuana as a dangerous Schedule I drug with no medical value. The police and prison industry have a vested interest in keeping marijuana illegal. There are jobs on the line and drug seizure laws that profit the criminal justice system. I believe politicians that use law enforcement concerns as an excuse to continue the prohibition are either ill-informed or have special interests of their own.

I am a combat wounded Vietnam Veteran diagnosed with a high degree of PTSD. When I returned home, I found the Veterans Administration hospital so stifling I basically dropped out and self-medicated my traumas away. I made it. I'm still alive. The VA has changed for the better and I'm back in the system. There are therapy sessions and a chemistry kit of pharmaceuticals with varying degrees of side effects prescribed for PTSD. I'm reluctant to take them. I would prefer a plant I'm familiar with and one I could even grow at home. Cannabis isn't new. The chinese have used it in medicine for thousands of years and charred seeds from about 3000 B.C. have been found in Siberia.

Billy Curmano was a paratrooper serving with D Company, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade during 1968 and 1969. He was wounded near Tuy Hoa.