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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
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 [CO] Injured vets want battle over pot to end 
#12856822 - 07/06/10 01:25 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Injured vets want battle over pot to end
July 6, 2010 - Denver Post
Consider the case of Kevin Grimsinger.
The 42-year-old former special-forces medic had served in Kosovo and Desert Storm before stepping on a land mine in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2001. He lost parts of both legs, broke his back in 13 places, shattered a shoulder and ribs and suffered injuries to several internal organs.
But by far, his toughest wounds are to his brain — textbook post-traumatic stress disorder.
That means flashbacks. It means struggling to sleep and thinking about suicide more often than he cares to admit. His nightmares are constant, he says. "They're bloody, they're noisy and they're gory."
After two years in hospitals, Grimsinger was released addicted "to every pain medication known to man," he tells me. It wasn't until turning to therapeutic cannabis, along with other prescriptions, that he says he has been able to function. Medical marijuana doesn't take away his trauma. But it gives him a break long enough to sleep.
Grimsinger has served on Denver's Commission for People with Disabilities and as a quartermaster at his local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He works as a veterans advocate at Budding Health, a Denver dispensary, where he leads a support group of nearly 200 former service members.
Most have registered as chronic-pain patients. But just as Grimsinger's stumps are easier to spot than his brain injuries, what ails their minds is far more debilitating.
PTSD isn't a condition that qualifies for medical-marijuana use in Colorado. Federally, the Veterans Affairs doesn't prescribe the drug and, by policy, threatens to cut off care and benefits to vets who test positive for using it.
"Veterans feel incredibly disrespected on this issue, especially as it relates to PTSD," says Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access.
More than 18 percent of vets returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are traumatized.
"I'd much rather these guys come home and smoke a joint than take pills or drink or beat up their wives," Grimsinger says. "We've seen our battle. We've done our fighting. Don't make us continue to fight: Fight for sleep. Fight for appetite. Fight to get out of bed in the mornings."
He petitioned state Department of Public Health on Friday to add PTSD as a condition for legal medical-marijuana use. A rally is planned outside the health department at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Despite assertions by health officials to the contrary, his petition cites studies showing cannabis as a more effective treatment for trauma than most pharmaceuticals and with fewer side effects. It also cites a policy in Canada authorizing that government to pay for medical marijuana for veterans. California allows doctors the freedom to decide which conditions qualify.
In New Mexico, the only state citing PTSD as a qualifying condition, more users are registered for trauma than for pain. Health officials here fear a similar floodgate effect, not just among veterans but all Coloradans.
"They've been fighting us on this forever," says Martin Chilcutt, a former intelligence officer and chronic PTSD patient who led the campaign to legalize marijuana here in 2000.
Ten years after Coloradans passed Amendment 20, it is easier to get a marijuana card for carpal tunnel syndrome than for literally being shell- shocked. Call me a flaming liberal or a bleeding heart, but as public policies go, that is messed up.
"Yes, it is, ma'am," Grimsinger says. "Yes, it certainly is."
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gamer4life
Natures Child
Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 753
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Re: [CO] Injured vets want battle over pot to end [Re: veggie]
#12858073 - 07/06/10 05:15 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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What a story,this goes to show politics only care about themselves,that's bad when a person gave his life to fight for wars that shouldn't have started in the first place,and now deny him the right to feel comfortable what a shame.Wished I were their to help,but all I can do is donate:(
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Legalize!
Stop putting our children in prisons.
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 PeterGriffin467
Dirt Grub
Registered: 09/18/07
Posts: 6,248
Loc: six feet under
Last seen: 5 hours, 4 minutes
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Re: [CO] Injured vets want battle over pot to end [Re: gamer4life]
#12859932 - 07/06/10 11:15 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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It says he's on medical marijuana along with other Rx so obviously they mean opiates. So basicaly this guy is smoking realy good dank and its making the opiates feel more euphoric
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"I just need to check inside ya asshole SIR.... Asshole clear!"
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Brennus
Student of Life
Registered: 05/31/08
Posts: 3,087
Loc: SE United States
Last seen: 7 days, 5 hours
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Re: [CO] Injured vets want battle over pot to end [Re: PeterGriffin467]
#12864618 - 07/07/10 09:23 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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It's fucking shameful to live in a country where a man can get half his body blown away in service to his country but he becomes a criminal when he comes back home and sparks up a joint so he can sleep without screaming.
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wowitch17
Growery is Better
Registered: 01/10/06
Posts: 8,537
Loc: Chile
Last seen: 3 months, 11 days
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Re: [CO] Injured vets want battle over pot to end [Re: PeterGriffin467]
#12864691 - 07/07/10 09:37 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
PeterGriffin467 said:
It says he's on medical marijuana along with other Rx so obviously they mean opiates. So basicaly this guy is smoking realy good dank and its making the opiates feel more euphoric
duh. great post
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