Prescription medications that Army doctors doled out failed him

Former platoon sergeant says marijuana was 'the only thing' that controlled his PTSD
By BILL MURPHY JR.
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 1, 2011

Former Army Sgt. Jamey Raines came home from Iraq and fought another battle with post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming largely from memories of losing friends in combat. He says he overcame the debilitating effects of PTSD with the help of marijuana. Courtesy of Jamey Raines

Jamey Raines tried marijuana once or twice in high school, but he said he had no interest in it after he joined the Army in 2000. He served in heavy combat in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and rose through the ranks from private to platoon sergeant. Along the way he drank and smoked cigarettes like many infantrymen do, but he said he was “100 percent against” using any drug in any form.

Five years out of the military as of next month, however, Raines has changed his mind.

Using marijuana, he said, was the only way he could control his intense anger and anxiety as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. The drug was a crutch, but a necessary one, he said, and it enabled him to go to college, earn his degree and land a decent job.

It succeeded, he said, where the fistfuls of prescription medications that Army doctors doled out failed him.
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