Posted: Saturday, October 13, 2012 - 10/13/12
New Mexico’s decision to allow post-traumatic stress disorder as a condition that can be treated with medical marijuana is helping sufferers across the state cope with their symptoms. Some 3,300 patients are taking advantage of that access, using medical-grade cannabis to treat symptoms of this little-understood malady. Many are veterans of war, others are survivors of tragedies, including sexual assault. Anecdotally, they tell us that marijuana helps them deal with life. Reporter Deborah Busemeyer details their stories — and the debate over PTSD and medical cannabis — in today’s Santa Fe New Mexican , showing how desperate people turned to cannabis for help, many as a last measure.
That treatment could be taken away, though. Access to medical marijuana for PTSD is being questioned in New Mexico. To skeptics, there is not enough scientific evidence to prove that sufferers benefit from smoking or consuming pot. In November, the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board will review a petition asking that PTSD be removed as a condition for which medical marijuana can be prescribed through the state’s Medical Cannabis Program. Psychiatrist Dr. William Ulwelling is petitioning the state because he believes there is a lack of evidence showing that medical marijuana helps PTSD. What’s more, he thinks that medical cannabis is a risk for sufferers of PTSD, leading to substance abuse problems and other injury. After the board considers his petition Nov. 7 — veterans are expected to turn out to testify in favor of keeping marijuana access — the interim deputy health secretary will make a final decision.
New Mexico is one of only three states allowing marijuana as a treatment for PTSD — Arizona and Colorado have rejected its use as treatment for the disorder, for example. It was added back in 2009, after then-Secretary of Health Dr. Alfredo Vigil decided patient testimony, as well as evidence that other medications weren’t working, gave him enough grounds to include PTSD. “It seemed reasonable,” he said. Nationwide, only 17 states allow medical marijuana at all.
Frankly, we like how California deals with the issue. Its state law doesn’t allow PTSD as a reason — but it doesn’t disallow it, either. Rather than tell doctors how and what to prescribe, California’s law says cannabis can be prescribed for “any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that either substantially limits a person’s ability to conduct one or more of major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or if not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the person’s safety, physical, or mental health.” That way, the diagnosis is up to the physician, and a sick and hurting person doesn’t have to prove to a panel of bureaucrats that she needs her medicine. Removing bureaucrats from health care decisions, after all, is an oft-stated goal of politicians.
Eliminating PTSD, of course, won’t necessarily cut off patient access to the treatment they believe works best — many people will simply get cannabis for pain or another condition that is approved by the state. We believe, given the accounts of people who are using medical marijuana, that the state should err on the side of compassion. Doctors and patients, after all, are best able to judge what treatment works for ailments. Most health care providers who prescribe cannabis do so as a last resort, when other treatments fail. Dr. Ulwelling is correct — we need more science to support the treatment. Moving forward, the state also should encourage the federal government to allow more studies into how cannabis works in treating ailments. In the meantime, absent the proof of widespread harm, New Mexico’s program should continue — with patients and doctors using the treatment they believe works.
