The corporate media would have us believe that it’s only the living conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that are deplorable, not the medical care. But California cannabis specialists question the quality of care itself. “Wounded soldiers at Walter Reed are treated with toxic medications,” says Tod Mikuriya, MD, “while the safest painkiller known to man is systematically withheld.”

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The new Congress could go far in establishing its bona fides as both reasonable and compassionate by immediately moving on this issue 

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“If anybody needs and deserves cannabis-based medicine, it’s the thousands of soldiers who have been seriously wounded in Iraq,” says Philip A. Denney, MD, president of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. “Cannabis would help in treating insomnia, pain, PTSD, spasticity, and a whole array of symptoms that wounded vets typically face.”

NATURAL SOURCE — Containers of medical cannabis in LA’s Apothecary 420 dispensary display stand in front of an illustration of the THC molecule, generally considered the key medically active ingredient found in cannabis. Oaksterdam News photo by Jaime Galindo

PTSD is widespread in our society. Mikuriya, who has monitored cannabis use by more than 8,500 patients, reports that approximately eight percent had a primary diagnosis of PTSD. Many “are Vietnam veterans whose chronic depression, insomnia, and accompanying irritability cannot be relieved by conventional psychotherapeutics and is worsened by alcohol. For many of these veterans, chronic pain from old physical injury compounds problems with narcotic dependence and side effects of opioids.

“Cannabis relieves pain, enables sleep, normalizes gastrointestinal function and restores peristalsis. Fortified by improved digestion and adequate rest, the patient can resist being overwhelmed by triggering stimuli. There is no other psychotherapeutic drug with these synergistic and complementary effects.

“Physical pain, fatigue, and sleep deficit are symptoms that can be ameliorated. Restorative exercise and diet are requisite components of treatment of PTSD and depression. Cannabis does not leave the patient too immobile to exercise, as do some analgesics, sedatives biodiazapenes, etc. Regular aerobic exercise (where injury does not interfere) relieves tension and restores control through kinesthetic involvement. Exercise also internalizes the locus of control and diminishes drug-seeking to manage emotional response.

“PTSD often involves irritability and inability to concentrate, which is aggravated by sleep deficit. Cannabis use enhances the quality of sleep through modulation of emotional reactivity. It eases the triggered flashbacks and accompanying emotional reactions, including nightmares.

“The importance of restoring circadian rhythm of sleep cannot be overestimated in the management of PTSD. Avoidance of alcohol is important in large part because of the adverse effects on sleep. The short-lived relaxation and relief provided by alcohol are replaced by withdrawal symptoms at night, causing anxiety and the worsening of musculoskeletal pain...

“Based on both safety and efficacy, cannabis should be considered first in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. As part of a restorative program with exercise, diet, and psychotherapy, it should be substituted for ‘mainstream’ anti-depressants, sedatives, muscle relaxants, tricyclics, etc.”

Somewhere at Walter Reed and through the VA system there are wounded men and women who know from direct experience that cannabis eases their symptoms and who, sooner or later, will assert the right to use it openly.

Donna Shalala and Bob Dole, who have been appointed by Bush to assess conditions at Walter Reed, are the last people in the world who would allow cannabis use by wounded vets. Shalala stood alongside Barry McCaffrey to denounce Dr. Mikuriya and Prop 215 at a well-covered press conference in December 1996. She stated that it’s wrong to use cannabis “because it’s illegal” and the reason it’s illegal is “because it’s ‘wrong.’”

* Gardener is a journalist who specializes in coverage of medical marijuana research issues, and editor of O’Shaughnessey’s Journal.