Colorado Considers Allowing Medical Cannabis for PTSD
Even thoughColorado the first state in the union to legalize adult use of cannabis is considered a pioneer on pot policy, its been slow when it comes to acknowledging the medicinal potential of the plant when it comes to certain conditions. Only now is the state beginning to consider allowing doctors to recommend medical cannabis for patients suffering from PTSD.
DENVER (AP) The first state to legalize marijuana is just now taking steps to consider the drug medicine for people suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Colorado has authorized medical marijuana for nearly two decades, and the state approved recreational pot use in 2012. But doctors here still cannot recommend marijuanas use to treat post-traumatic stress, forcing sufferers to pay higher taxes for recreational pot.
Many Colorado PTSD patients interested in pot say they lie to doctors about having chronic pain, allowing them to qualify for medical pot cards.
Medical obviously comes at a lesser price, and needing it medicinally, we need a lot more than a regular person would, said Ashley Weber, 32, a Longmont native who uses marijuana to treat chronic pain and PTSD from a car accident that left her in wheelchair.
A bill headed to the state Senate would make PTSD the 10th ailment eligible for medical pot in Colorado. Passage would make Colorado the 20th state to allow doctors to recommend pot for PTSD.
Colorados Medical Board has rejected post-traumatic stress as an ailment eligible for pot art least four times. Citing a lack of medical research showing pots effectiveness treating PTSD, the states major medical societies also oppose pot for PTSD.
There are well-known, proven treatments for PTSD, said Dr. Adam Burstein, testifying against the bill on behalf of the Colorado Medical Society and the Colorado Psychiatric Association.
But other physicians testified that marijuana treatments for PTSD are already common and that the change wouldnt require pot treatment, just allow doctors to consider it.
There is an institutional bias against marijuana in the medical profession, said Dr. Irene Aguilar, who is also a ...
