Sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder can begin obtaining medical marijuana legally under Arizona law as soon as January.
Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, announced the decision today in his blog. PTSD patients and medical-cannabis advocates have been expecting a decision since last month, when state Administrative Law Judge Thomas Shedden ruled that PTSD should be deemed a qualifying ailment.
Humble denied a petition last December to add PTSD to the list of qualifying medical conditions for legal pot, based on his opinion that evidence of marijuana’s effectiveness in treating PTSD was lacking. The decision was appealed, resulting in Shedden’s June ruling.
Now, Humble says he agrees enough evidence has surfaced to validate the palliative care of PTSD with marijuana, as opposed to trying to treat the condition with marijuana. The difference is that in palliative care, the goal is to relieve the symptoms of a condition.
Read the rest over at the Phoenix New Times.