Oregon advocates: Allow medical marijuana for veterans with PTSD

Jared Townsend, a 27-year-old Iraq War veteran, says he depends on medical marijuana to help him sleep and, as he puts it, “balance life out a little bit better.”

The Hillsboro, Ore.,  man qualifies for medical marijuana due to severe pain from a ruptured disc and injured shoulder, injuries from his 2007-08 combat tour. But the drug is a bigger help with his symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

“If I get racing thoughts and real worked up, it can break a panic attack pretty quick,” Townsend said.

Oregon medical marijuana advocates say many veterans with the disorder are already in the state program because, like Townsend, they have other medical conditions that allow them to legally use the drug.

But as more veterans return home and struggle to resume their lives, advocates say it’s time to recognize PTSD as a stand-alone condition. Read the full story in The Oregonian about how they are laying the groundwork to add PTSD to the list of conditions that qualify patients to use medical marijuana.