Burning Question: Does pot help PTSD?

[The Straight Story]

Burning Question: Does pot help PTSD?
May 24, 2010

Some military veterans are convinced that marijuana holds the key to dealing with the burden of post-traumatic stress disorder.

But as NPR reported on its "Morning Edition" program last week, they have to go outside the Veterans Affairs Department health system if they want to pursue this avenue of treatment, even if they live in a state that allows the use of medical marijuana.

The VA says it is "in the process of developing national policy" on medical marijuana, but for the time being, the department's general counsel has ruled that for its doctors, filling out a state medical marijuana form would constitute a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.


Meanwhile, the jury is still out among doctors as to whether marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=45333&oref=todaysnews

[uberblonde]

1. I know a lot of stoners who are Vietnam vets...

But they still seem to have problems.

[intheflow]

6. No drug treatment for PTSS alleviates all the problems.

It's about mitigating the symptoms, not erasing them.

[usregimechange]

13. Depends on the severity and how hard the patient works...

It can go away.

[intheflow]

14. Obviously.

But I think a lot of people who are prone to PTSS don't go into their traumatic experience psychologically stable. Not so psychologically damaged that they can't function or even know themselves, but then the trauma triggers a lot of old stuff. The problem often arises that people are treated for PTSS just based on their traumatic experience not tying it in with earlier unstable influences. Like treating the symptom instead of the whole person.

[yella_dawg]

2. Answer.

Yes.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. I'd wager the best thing for PTSD is not having wars in the first place.

But, that's probably because I spent so many years as a stoner hippie. :hippie:

[madinmaryland]

12. +1000

[greencharlie]

4. couldn't hurt ;)

[intheflow]

5. My personal experience:

Yes, it absolutely helps. I was diagnosed with secondary PTSS after working disaster relief and recovery on the Gulf Coast for two years after Katrina. It calmed me down, allowed me to sleep, and cheered me up on occasion.

[justabob]

16. me too

I suffer from PTSD (and misc associated issues) and it helps me quite a bit. The stuff that tends to set me off doesn't bother me so much, and of course, sleeping and appetite are helped too. I suspect some people are helped and some are not, and a lot depends on what other support the person is getting with regard to treatment too. PTSD is rough one to go alone.

[undergroundpanther]

7. If pot can

help with the anxiety,triggers,insomnia,and the other symptoms I have with Complex PSTD I would be glad because the meds I take now are not all that good for my body.If pot can wipe out the need for say,half the pills I take now.. I'd take the THC/pot pills.I can't smoke pot or anything else it gives me bronchitis.

[Sebastian Doyle]

8. Not sure

But I'd volunteer to research it. When can I expect delivery of the "research material"?

[usregimechange]

9. Answer: In the short term, likely not in the long term

Successful treatment of PTSD depends on the patient obtaining control of symptoms, I can't see anything in the use of cannabis that would assist in this. Additionally, dependence and other side affects may make the cost benefit analysis unfavorable to what many here advocate.

[GA_ArmyVet]

10. No.

No more than any other drug...it may hide the symptoms but doesnt address the problems.

At least none of it helped me.

[kgnu_fan]

11. One of my dear friends is a vietnam vet and he was only survivor of the most bloody killing field

I think pot really helped him. He told me that a medicine man took care of him when he returned from the war, totally destroyed, crazy --- but with spiritual healing, he moved on to live a quiet life after that. But he always needed pot...

[pitohui]

15. not willing to risk it

no doubt natural disaster related PTSD is not the same as war related PTSD but i'm just not willing to risk any drug

anything that increases paranoia, etc. seems like bad news for me personally

not to say it wouldn't help somebody else, hell, i'm confident it DOES help some other people

i'm just not willing to risk it for myself

[RainDog]

17. The VA needs to do controlled studies

with patients who do not have to worry that an attempt to see if cannabis is helpful might hurt them in their jobs, or give them reason to be paranoid if its use was discovered.

Just like any other medication, people respond to cannabis in different ways, but overall cannabis helps in the relief of anxiety, with being "stuck" in a thought, with feelings of overwhelming sadness, with feelings that things will not improve and provides the body with an experience of pleasure - a reminder that there is pleasure and happiness in this world.

Anti-depressants, it is now acknowledged, work because of the placebo effect as much as anything else.

PTSD appears to alter the hippocampus in people, some studies have shown. Cannabinoid receptors in the brain are highly concentrated in the hippocampus.

A study announced in 2005 stated that cannabis may help generate new hippocampi cells.

This is really what would be useful to look at, imo, to see what, if anything, this capacity might be able to do to relieve suffering of those with PTSD.

The hippocampus' functions deal with memory - the study found cannabis had anti-depressant qualities..

Scientists and drs. should be able to study this issue to see if it offers help for a long-term debilitating condition, esp. when the sufferers are vets.

[RainDog]

19. and a link to the study that demonstrated anti-depressant and anti-anxiety qualities

...the study postulates that the neurogenesis (new hippocampi cells) from cannabinoids are responsible for this effect.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/25509

[EFerrari]

18. A doc I know in the field once told me

that the stuff she was reading indicated that long term use of pot could up paranoia. That would not be helpful to people with PTSD or, to anyone for that matter.