Fayetteville Tech panel on medical marijuana lends ear to veterans struggling with PTSD
The debate around whether marijuana use should be legalized is an ongoing discussion among Americans and medical experts.
A panel talk at Fayetteville Technical Community College centered around a case that started in California in 2005. A woman was legally growing marijuana, which was legal in the state but was against federal law. Her case ended up going to the Supreme Court.
The conversation over legalizing marijuana for medical use has raged across the country for years. There are service members who say the drug helps them deal with numerous combat-related illnesses, including PTSD.
Shelley Watson served in the Army for 28 years and is one of them.
"It really soothes your body," Watson said. "There's a lot of medications that I rule out and I don't take just because I get more out of using THC."
But marijuana is illegal in North Carolina, even for medical use. Despite that, there are doctors who believe the drug has some medical benefit.
"I think it's very useful for chronic pain," said Dr. Rakesh Gupta at the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "It is used for nausea and vomiting. It's very useful for improving appetite in people who have very significant Cachexia or loss of weight due to HIV or other cancer related conditions."
The panel discussion at Fayetteville Technical Community College not only dealt with the medical use of the drug, but its legality. The Supreme Court decided years ago, in the case of Gonzales v. Raich, that the Federal Government controls the using and selling of marijuana, even in states like California that have passed a Compassionate Use Act.
"Even John Paul Stevens, who wrote the opinion, late in his book, five chiefs cited that case as a case where he followed the law, even though he deplored the result of it," said Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons.
"Obviously, we do appreciate that some people have some symptoms that marijuana makes them more comfortable," retired law enforcement officer Terry Ray said. "At the end of the day, the law is the law."
Marijuana is still illegal in North Carolina but there's hope there will be compassion to let it be used for medical use.
In North Carolina, for the second year in a row, a proposal to legalize marijuana use for patients with debilitating or terminal medical conditions, called the “Compassionate Care Act,” passed the Senate but did not get a vote in the House.
