{"id":57198,"date":"2022-09-21T04:08:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T12:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/09\/21\/my-va-doctor-shouldnt-have-to-break-the-rules-to-recommend-medical-marijuana-for-ptsd-op-ed\/"},"modified":"2022-09-21T19:47:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T03:47:02","slug":"my-va-doctor-shouldnt-have-to-break-the-rules-to-recommend-medical-marijuana-for-ptsd-op-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/09\/21\/my-va-doctor-shouldnt-have-to-break-the-rules-to-recommend-medical-marijuana-for-ptsd-op-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"My VA Doctor Shouldn\u2019t Have To Break The Rules To Recommend Medical Marijuana For PTSD (Op-Ed)"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doc and I were going over my list of antidepressants and antipsychotics when she sighed and sat back from her desk and suggested I try marijuana.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Bill Bee<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first tried marijuana in the winter of 2014, and it was the only thing that stopped my nightmares and dark thoughts from my four deployments as a Marine in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The brain injuries I suffered during my career and in an IED blast in Marjah, Helmand Province, in 2010 meant I had to be supervised while cooking, I struggled to get out of the house and I had constant flashbacks.<\/p>\n

I tried it after an appointment with a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) psychiatrist who broke the rules.<\/p>\n

For an hour, she made me go through the most traumatic moments of my time as a Marine, laid out a suggested treatment plan and then said: \u201cI really shouldn\u2019t be saying this, but I wish I could prescribe you cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ended up smoking with my neighbor and we sat, laughed and watched TV. I saw an infomercial for blue-light-blocking glasses and thought it was going to change the face of the Earth, so I figured I\u2019d had too much, but it made me relaxed and gave me an escape.<\/p>\n

I started lighting up a pipe twenty minutes before bed, to get a peaceful night\u2019s sleep, like I used to get before my first trip to Garmsir.<\/p>\n

It worked better than the medication the VA was giving me, and I wasn\u2019t being an angry asshole to my wife, or flying off the handle at the smallest spark.<\/p>\n

I dropped some of the long list of prescriptions, and my health started improving. When the VA asked if I was smoking, I never lied. I told my friends and family what I was doing, especially if they chose to stay at my home.<\/p>\n

I needed to be more mellow for my family, and I shouldn\u2019t have had to rely on marijuana to make me feel normal, while I was still struggling to get regular help for my traumatic brain injuries.<\/p>\n

Even while I was working with the Veterans Benefits Administration, I was being caught up in a backlog and forced to wait days and sometimes weeks to see or even talk to someone.<\/p>\n

The federal prohibition preventing VA doctors from treating our disabled veterans<\/a> by prescribing or even recommending medical cannabis not only shows how broken the system is, but it also has a direct negative impact on those that are asking for help.<\/p>\n

When I transitioned to civilian life after a 13-year career in the Marines, I got a job counseling and teaching service members on how to use their VA benefits. During training, I realized what we were being taught was vastly different to the level of treatment we were given.<\/p>\n

I enrolled in VA Healthcare shortly after I became a civilian, and I waited. And waited. And waited.<\/p>\n

While my application made its way extremely slowly through the bureaucratic cogs, I waited to see a doctor and wasn\u2019t able to be treated for my physical and psychological issues.<\/p>\n

When I was finally enrolled and I met my mental healthcare provider, though, I was less than impressed. The primary issue I had with my psychiatrist was the lack of attention paid to my appointments.<\/p>\n

I would talk about the most traumatic issues I had experienced in a one-hour session so the doctor could assess the issues and process the rest of the treatment. It\u2019s not a fun experience, but it is necessary.<\/p>\n

My primary issue was how many times I was forced to re-explain issues because they weren\u2019t listened to on multiple, previous appointments. I had to explain numerous times that I was hit by an IED in Afghanistan, and not Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<\/p>\n

At one point, she interrupted me to ask me about a small man I was hallucinating. I had no clue what the hell she was talking about, as I had experienced full-immersion flashbacks but no hallucination remotely like she asked.<\/p>\n

After some discussion, I realized she was referring to my son. Following that episode, I asked for a new psychiatrist.<\/p>\n

I will not disclose which doctor I saw that ultimately recommended the most effective treatment I\u2019ve received, because they\u2019re amazing and I would hate to see the VA lose one of the most passionate providers they have for violating a backwards policy.<\/p>\n

From my first appointment, it was like a completely different priority of care, where it seemed like I was the focus.<\/p>\n

She insisted I bring my wife with me, as she was a vital part of my care.<\/p>\n

I liked that, as she was able to learn about the reasons behind why I acted the way I did, helping to identify methods which may mitigate problems in the future, as well as coping techniques.<\/p>\n

One thing she said stuck with me, and it would lead to the most effective treatment I ever received.<\/p>\n

My doc and I were going over my list of antidepressants and antipsychotics when she sighed and sat back from her desk and suggested I try marijuana.<\/p>\n

We sat and discussed the pros and cons of medical cannabis, and she encouraged me to conduct my own research.<\/p>\n

At the end of the conversation, she asked that the discussion remain between us, as she wasn\u2019t able to recommend it to anyone<\/a> because she worked for the VA and it was illegal in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

I listened to her advice, and I conducted my own research.<\/p>\n

Some was conducted online, and some was conducted in the garage of my neighbor, a retired Marine with some of the same injuries and issues I had sustained.<\/p>\n

After weeks of experimentation with microdosing, I finally found the perfect amount I needed to smoke to help kill my nightmares and render me less of an asshole.<\/p>\n

While it may not help with my memory issues, the amount of anxiety and rage that was a constant torrent in my head was brought down to a manageable level.<\/p>\n

I no longer feared to go anywhere I wasn\u2019t familiar with, and when I did, I wasn\u2019t constantly scanning roof lines for Taliban and double-checking each piece of trash I saw\u2014thinking there could be an IED hidden beneath the bags.<\/p>\n

I could actually communicate with strangers for the first time in what seemed like forever.<\/p>\n

It should not be this difficult to receive treatment. I shouldn\u2019t have to risk a drug charge just to get one of the few medications that show actual results.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a criminal and never have been. Outside of some speeding tickets, I take pride in the fact I\u2019ve never broken a law\u2026 other than trying to get treatment.<\/p>\n

My own doctor chose to risk her job simply by recommending a medication that works. It should not be this way.<\/p>\n

Bill Bee is a Marine veteran and the author of the new book<\/a>, \u201cThe Shot: The Harrowing Journey of a Marine in the War on Terror.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

New York Regulators Vote To Let Medical Marijuana Patients Grow Their Own Starting Next Month<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post My VA Doctor Shouldn\u2019t Have To Break The Rules To Recommend Medical Marijuana For PTSD (Op-Ed)<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\u201cMy doc and I were going over my list of antidepressants and antipsychotics when she sighed and sat back from her desk and suggested I try marijuana.\u201d By Bill Bee I first tried marijuana in the winter of 2014, and it was the only thing that stopped my nightmares andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57199,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57198\/revisions\/57199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}