I know my story in not unique at all, I am not posting it for any sympathy. I post it because I know I am just one of many that have suffered at the edge of an insane law.
I served in the US Navy from 1980 to 1990. I would have stayed much longer if I could, but unfortunately situations beyond my control brought me to a medical discharge. PTSD was something you did not hear back then; my diagnoses was major depressive episode reoccurring, with suicidal ideation.
Dreams flagellated me nightly, nightmare after nightmare making my sleep fitful at best. During the day panic attacks kept me behind closed doors. One of my most destructive symptoms was that I self medicated with alcohol. At least alcohol would drown the screaming in my head and help me pass out to a somewhat dreamless sleep.
For years I was shifted from one medication regime to another. Even with the meds and therapy, at least once, and many years two or three times a year; I would end up in a mental health hospital for anywhere from two weeks to six months. This cycle went on for years until 2010. After my second divorce I was destitute. I had no job, no car, and was living with a friend in the middle of nowhere with no way to even get a job.
Out of desperation I returned to my family home in Texas, even there I soon found myself in a VA mental health ward again. Things went a bit different there, my new doctor updated my diagnosis to PTSD, and started a new regime of medication as well as DBT therapy. This really seemed to work for me. For the first time in years I actually got sober. I am happy to be able to report that to this day I am still sober.
The down side was the medication, especially the quetiapine. While it was effective, over the next three years I developed every side effect attributed to it. Anxiety medications still presented a problem and were changed probably every six months or so. Nothing ever helped the onset of an full blown panic attack. About six or eight months before I started smoking cannabis again I even asked my doctor to put me in for ECT, meds weren't working and the depression was terrible most of the time. Even then it turned out I wasn't a candidate because according to him ECT doesn't really seem to bring much help to someone who is otherwise medication resistant.
In 2013 I was rear ended by a drunk while sitting at a red light, he was doing at least 60 they said. My neck and back took some heavy damage and pain was constant. Of course his insurance paid, but it paid the policy limit of 100,000 dollars. By the time the doctors and lawyers were done I did get a check for 60,000, but the needed surgery was 275,000, so basically my only choice was live with the pain. VA wouldn’t even consider opioid therapy because I was a recovering alcoholic.
Then in 2014 the last straw for me hit, the onset of terrible IBSD. I just couldn’t take anymore. My quality of life was almost nonexistent, once again I ended up in the VA mental health ward, suicidal. Because of the nausea and pain, and with no medical help that seemed to work I finally turned to medical Cannabis. Now I won't try to claim it's a miracle drug that took all the pain and nausea away, but I can say it immediately changed the nausea in me. It made it at least bearable.
At first I didn't notice, but within about a month or so I noticed that my panic attacks just didn't seem to come around as often. I had been on psych medications for over 20 years and none of them ever produced the effects I was seeing from Cannabis. I also would like to report that as a service connected veteran I am not alone. So very often I meet other vets that have found Cannabis very effective as well.
Then I was arrested with 1/8 of a gram of Cannabis, which for me is about one dose. I had been at one of my daughter's games so yes, I was in a school zone, the officers of course did their due diligence and charged me with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in a school zone. This carries a sentence of up to of 20 years in prison and a $200,000 dollar fine.
Luckily for me the judge at arraignment saw the absurdities of this and lowered the charges to misdemeanor possession. An average Cannabis cigarette takes about a gram to roll, I had about an 1/8 of a gram lost under my seat; and I was going to jail for selling drugs in a school zone. Tell me the charges as filed by the officers were not totally unjustified, yet still I paid a $300 fine.
Anyone who puts 30 minutes into the study of Cannabis law will find that the current laws are not at all based on any sort of medical evidence. It is a historical fact that both Anslinger and Nixon not only disagreed with actual medical studies they were given, but that both men threw them away because the reports didn't support their agendas. Not withstanding the federal stance established by these two men made Cannabis a schedule one drug and declared it had no medical value.
As of today there are numerous studies showing its medical efficacy. 33 states have legalized its medicinal use. These two facts alone serve to prove that Cannabis does have medical value which automatically negates the schedule one standing.
Our country is in the midst of a well known opioid crises. For me, this harmless plant took away my need for medication and greatly overall increased my quality of life. I know numerous other men and women that will testify to the same effects in their lives.
Did you know...
Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. -DEA.gov
I am a solid citizen, a good father, I pay my taxes, and always honor my fellow beings. I don't have problems with the law, I am not violent, as a matter of fact I am known to be quite a giver. Cannabis has been the one substance that has really helped me, when no pill, injection, or surgery seemed to help. Not to mention the therapeutic value of growing it myself.
My crimes are that I purchase Cannabis off of the black market and grow my own medicine. Do I really deserve jail? I know that question might just bring the reply, "yes you do, you are breaking the law." I must ask one more question then:
Do you support laws that have no reason, that are based on complete misinformation, and that were clearly initiated with racism and desires of controlling social classes, or would you agree that those are the type laws that this fine country has been carrying way too long? How in a truly free state can laws be based on lies? Where is the research that Cannabis is dangerous and rage inducing?