PTSD: One Million Plus American Military Victims

[Medical Marijuana]

I came on this recent article in the Salem-News. Dr Leveque uses medical marijuana in the treatment of PTSD

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - It is comforting for me as a combat infantryman and physician for PTSD victims to see an article in the Oregonian newspaper on PTSD. Articles also appearing in the New York Times, Cox News Service and Associated Press, are finally publicizing the negligence and the disgrace of the Army, Marines and V.A. about the gross mistreatment of not only hundreds of thousands of battle veterans but the mistreatment of all PTSD veterans going back even to the Civil War.

The figures usually given by the newspapers is 300 thousand PTSD veterans. What is not mentioned is their families. They have PTSD also. One of the symptoms or signs of PTSD is hypervigilance, in other words veterans are as "jumpy as a cat".

If a vet hears a click in the night it could be a trigger rifle safety, a hand grenade or even a mine trigger. Survival response is immediate and if the vet is in bed sleeping or taking a nap the effect on a spouse or children is as frightening as it is to the PTSD veteran. It seems no one has addressed this problem.

My wife wouldn't sleep with me for years because I thrashed in bed. I was only reaching for my rifle or running for my foxhole. She didn't quite understand!

I don't know what the divorce rate for this problem is, but I'll bet it is considerate. In addition to divorce, areas of major concern deal with spousal abuse and in some extreme cases, even murder.

To think that some of these vets have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as many as four times when the Army knows that more deployments causes greater and worse PTSD is troubling to me and should be to all Americans.

All of us will eventually have to pay for this with Big Bucks, I mean really BIG.

The newspaper says, "it has become a central topic of high-level discussions within the Army and the fundings have been accepted by Army leaders".

I say Hoo rah, let's do something about it.

There was a bill in Congress in January 1945 to insure adequate medical care for American servicemen, what happened?

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Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Toxicologist and Pharmacologist. He is an expert in medical marijuana treatment.
Got a question or comment for Dr. Leveque?
Email him: Newsroom@Salem-News.com