Study pot for PTSD? Veterans' advocates call for federal research

Dec. 08--Ray Chambers says slamming the door on medical marijuana research is an insult to the ailing veterans who might benefit from the drug's doctor-prescribed use.

"These are not people who are looking to get high," he said. "They are people who are looking for relief from pain. I just feel that any medication that's available that can help veterans, the government owes it to veterans to pursue it."

A disabled vet with two decades of service in the U.S. Navy, Chambers is among a growing number of veterans' advocates calling on federal officials to remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The classification includes "drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" and blocks privately funded marijuana cultivation for research purposes.

At its 98th national convention in Cincinnati held Aug. 30-Sept. 1, the American Legion passed a resolution urging Congress to reclassify marijuana. The move came three weeks after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration denied two petitions seeking a lower classification.

In its resolution, the American Legion says studies should target marijuana's potential use in treating combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, noting that the DEA approved a study on marijuana's use in PTSD patients in April.

With medical marijuana legal in 29 of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Chambers said claiming the drug has no medical use and listing it in the most stringent schedule along with heroin, LSD, Ecstasy and peyote strains credulity.

"It really defies reason," he said. "For marijuana to be a Schedule I narcotic is almost ridiculous. They need to take it off Schedule I and we need to use it in medical studies to see how it can benefit patients."

POT STILL POLARIZING

Chambers serves as chairman of the Wilson Committee on Patriotism and is a member of both the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans, but he's careful to point out that his views are his own. Not all veterans' advocates want to explore medical marijuana, which still carries a stoner stigma for some.

"I am not speaking for the DAV or for the American Legion," he said. "I am speaking for Ray Chambers, an American veteran and someone who is around a lot of veterans who are hurting."

Supporters of federal research say marijuana has potential to treat brain injuries and PTSD, along with chronic pain and chemotherapy side effects in cancer patients. Opponents say pot's a street drug, plain and simple, and easing research restrictions would be a slippery slope to wholesale legalization.

"As a Bible-believing Christian, I cannot support medical marijuana to treat PTSD," said Ethel Joyner, president of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 13 in Wilson. "I believe marijuana is habit-forming and can easily be abused. No one knows if it will help medicinally."

Joyner said she's read about the American Legion resolution, but she remains skeptical that marijuana would surface as the best option to ease vets' suffering, even if it's prescribed by a doctor.

"I respect a doctor's opinion, but I still have a hard time seeing marijuana being good for anyone," she said.

Marty Bartlett, commander of Wilson's American Legion Post 13, favors a wait-and-see approach. He said he has "no issues at all" with the Legion-led push to study the drug's potential.

"The American Legion is on the forefront of any research or medical advancements to help veterans, but in the long run, it's not just the veterans that get the help," he said. "It's all the people."

BIG PHARMA BLOCKADE?

A Pew Research Center poll released in October shows 57 percent of American adults support marijuana legalization, with 37 percent opposed. Ten years ago, less than a third of those polled favored legal pot.

Despite a strong trend in favor of legalization, advocates like Perry Parks, executive director of the N.C. Cannabis Patients Network, say prescription drug companies are working behind the scenes to stall any progress on the federal front.

"The pharmaceutical industry has two lobbyists for every single member of Congress," Parks said. "They're in the senators' and representatives' offices all the time."

A retired Army helicopter pilot, Parks began using marijuana in 2003 to treat PTSD and chronic pain. He said the cannabis plant is a better alternative to the painkillers his Veterans Affairs doctors prescribed.

"The VA's first reaction is to fill you full of pills," he said. "They start with hydrocodone. But there are no long-term benefits. There are long-term dangers."

Opioid painkillers including hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, methadone and tramadol have a high potential for abuse and high doses can cause liver damage, loss of consciousness and death, according to the DEA, which also notes in official records that no marijuana overdose deaths have ever been reported.

Parks said he's hopeful that the "integrity of the American Legion," the nation's largest veterans' group, can counteract Big Pharma's lobbying might on Capitol Hill and clear the path for federally funded research on medical marijuana.

"I think the word is getting around," Parks said. "When you're looking at a person with PTSD and he's smiling and going about his life with cannabis and you look at another patient and he's taking pills and lying in bed, it doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here."

TRUMP: FRIEND OR FOE?

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine last week, President Barack Obama said marijuana should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco. While he's halted enforcement of the federal ban in states that have legalized pot and commuted the sentences of some nonviolent drug offenders, Obama didn't pressure his DEA to reclassify marijuana.

President-elect Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about his incoming administration's drug policy and its openness to marijuana as medicine.

Trump tapped Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum called a "drug-war dinosaur" as his nominee for attorney general. Sessions is likely to favor increased enforcement of federal drug laws.

His soon-to-be boss, however, has struck more moderate tones on marijuana, saying the issue should be left up to state governments.

Parks met Trump on the campaign trail and shared his story with the Republican presidential nominee during a February rally in Florence, South Carolina. Parks said Trump showed genuine concern for his plight.

"He asked me, 'Does it work?' I said yeah," Parks recalled. "He said, 'Where do you get it?' I said, 'On the black market.' He said, 'That's not right.'"

Parks asked Trump for an autograph and he obliged, scrawling his signature on a July 2015 copy of the American Legion's official magazine.

The cover story? "Crime or Cure? Veterans and Medical Marijuana."

cfriedman@wilsontimes.com -- 265-7813

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