People needlessly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in Michigan now have an alternative, effective way to help manage their condition as the state’s medical cannabis program was expanded this week to include the condition.
Not that the powers-that-be wanted it to happen, mind you. Steve Arwood, director of the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, signed the order into law, but says it’s starting the state down a slippery slope to outright legalization.
“PTSD is a mental health issue,” Arwood wrote in an official letter dated March 14. “Granting this approval steps Michigan away from the use of marihauna for disease of the body or chronic pain symptoms of a physical nature.”
Apparently Arwood thinks PTSD is merely a whimsical condition that can only be helped by ignoring it or using heavy pharmaceutical drugs. Never mind that several other states already allow for it and heard good things from their patient populations, or that Arizona State University has been granted a federal license to study cannabis and it’s therapeutic uses for PTSD sufferers – many of whom are veterans who served to keep Arwood’s ass safe and happy at home in Michigan.
Arwood also wasn’t very pleased with being put in the position as the guy who let that slide happen. This is the first change to the allowable conditions in Michigan’s medical marijuana law since it was passed in 2008.
“Thousands of victims across the country have turned to medical marijuana for help, and several studies support marijuana’s effectiveness as a treatment option,” Chris Lindsey, analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project said in a release. “Those who suffer from PTSD in Michigan can now speak freely with their physicians to determine whether marijuana is an appropriate treatment option for them.”
According to some statistics, as many as 5.2 million Americans suffer from some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder.
This might not be the only change to the state’s medical marijuana laws this year. The legislature is also considering a bill that would allow landlords to prevent the use and cultivation of medical cannabis on rented properties and another that would reword the state laws to allow for edbiles and lotions. Currently, those are illegal thanks to a narrow-minded court ruling last year. A third bill would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to again legally operate in the state.