Funds Raised in Tampa For PTSD Medical Marijuana Research

Tampa Cannathon Raises Awareness and Funds for PTSD Research
Marijuana Investor Summit
By: Marguerite Arnold
July 17, 2015

By the time people organize road races to raise money and awareness for a health condition, it is well on its way to the mainstream. In Tampa last weekend, on July 11, 2015, FCCActive, a local non-profit promoting medical cannabis use as part of a healthy lifestyle, organized the state’s first 5K cannabis-themed road race to help veterans and their families understand post-traumatic stress disorder and how to treat it, including with the use of cannabinoids. The event took place near MacDill Air Force Base.

“PTSD is a debilitating illness and it’s for real and it’s a problem,” said Garyn Angel, CEO of Magical Butter, a Port Richey-based company sponsoring the event, told Creative Loafing Tampa, a local zine. “If you watch what’s happened with the suicide rate for veterans, it’s staggering.” Angel’s company manufactures kitchen plant extractors that medical users can use to make cannabutter at home.

While many different kinds of individuals suffer from PTSD, which is essentially the body’s triggering of extreme stress and flight-or-fight mechanisms long after a traumatic event, the vast majority of those suffering the most are the nation’s veterans, who are still routinely banned from using the drug even under a doctor’s care. Furthermore, veterans “convicted” of medical marijuana use can lose other benefits, and of course, can still be arrested for trying to treat a difficult-to-manage and life-long health condition. There is still no state in the country, including Colorado, where users, even for medical purposes, do not face discrimination on the job or the threat of being legally fired for off-the-job, medical use.

Veterans are also on the front lines of this war too. Last year, Princeton University made the news when an 18-year employee, who was also a military veteran, lost his job for being part of the New Jersey medical marijuana program.

“[Veterans] have sacrificed and suffered the most for our freedom. Yet today many of our nation’s veterans lack the freedom to safely and effectively treat the paralyzing effects the invisible scars of battle can leave behind,” said Pete Sessa, COO of the Florida Cannabis Coalition.
read more here

From the Department of Veterans Affairs

Marijuana as a Treatment for PTSD

The belief that marijuana can be used to treat PTSD is limited to anecdotal reports from individuals with PTSD who say that the drug helps with their symptoms. There have been no randomized controlled trials, a necessary "gold standard" for determining efficacy. Administration of oral CBD has been shown to decrease anxiety in those with and without clinical anxiety (18). This work has led to the development and testing of CBD treatments for individuals with social anxiety (19), but not yet among individuals with PTSD. With respect to THC, one open trial of 10 participants with PTSD showed THC was safe and well tolerated and resulted in decreases in hyperarousal symptoms (20).
Read more from the VA on Medical Marijuana here