How Cannabis Consumption Can Help Veterans

How Cannabis Consumption Can Help Veterans

As it stands today, cannabis consumption is helping military veterans in the United States and around the world with their medical conditions, which were initiated during wartime. There is one more issue to consider or clear up prior to engaging in a discussion about the extent to which cannabis consumption can help military veterans.

One of the major topics as it relates to the veterans is post traumatic stress disorder; also known as PTSD. This illness is one of the qualifying conditions for acquiring medical cannabis in most states across the United States that have legalized cannabis.

The Prescribed Option

To many military veterans, cannabis consumption is more appealing than prescribed drugs. For one, it does not cause addiction and there is no risk for dependency or overdose. In addition, there are no side effects to talk about in comparison to prescribed drugs. In fact, there are more benefits of cannabis consumption to military veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. For that reason, the U.S. government is thinking about putting more resources and finances into research.

No Disorder

PTSD is not really a disorder as many people might think. It is considered by experts to be a natural psychological response to harrowing events. If you have gone through anything traumatic in your life, you already know this to be true. And so, before you consider cannabis consumption to be the effective treatment, let us attempt to get the ‘disorder' mantra out of our minds and become aware of the side effects of a traumatic event is quite normal and nothing to be embarrassed about. In addition to PTSD, veterans also suffer from depression, pain and anxiety and even though, it hasn't been researched whether cannabis consumption helps or not, there are many advocates who believe that it would result in a reduced rate of suicide, if veterans had increased access to cannabis.

The Obvious

It is obvious that the United States request so much from military veterans and so why would ethics be a part of something that could help them deal with their PTSD? When military veterans return to society, there are many that do not receive the welcome they deserve. Even if we don't welcome them at their ports of entry, we could at least make cannabis available to help them handle the issues that plague them so that they can improve the quality of their life.

The Addiction

The most common choice for cannabis consumption is when a military veteran is feeling excruciating pain that is almost unbearable. The choice is sometimes made because prescribed drugs no longer work. Yes, cannabis is already proven to work for many cannabis consumers; let alone military veterans. When the veteran has received pharmaceutical prescription for pain and gets addicted to it; meaning that the veteran cannot do without it, then it would become an addiction problem. On the contrary, the veteran would not have the same addiction problem with cannabis consumption. There are a lot of opioid addiction issues in the United States right now and many of them are by military veterans who get to depend on these drugs to treat chronic pain and injuries from war.

Final Summary

Many military veterans also endure things like panic attacks, chronic depression and chronic anxiety. Cannabis consumption can also help with these chronic illnesses in a non-addictive way. In fact, this could aid veterans in dealing with or eliminating their opioid addiction. Once a cannabis regimen has begun, the veterans will see considerable differences to their health issues. It would be great, if the feds could jump on board sooner rather than later.