The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment and its Board of Health voted last month to deny those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) access to medical marijuana, despite the recommendation from the state’s chief medical officer that it add marijuana to the list of approved treatments.

“It is our brothers and sisters who are committing suicide every day. We know cannabis can help. We’re not going to go away,” John Evans, director of Veterans 4 Freedoms, told The Denver Post. “We’ve legalized it. We’ll take the tax dollars from our tourists (for recreational marijuana) before we’ll help our vets.”

The six board members who voted against the proposal said it was because there’s not enough evidence that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for the condition. “I’m struggling with the science piece,” board member Dr. Christopher Stanley said, according to the Post. Part of the reason for that is that the federal government makes it difficult to study marijuana’s therapeutic uses.

So, victims of PTSD, many of them veterans, will continue to be treated with opioid drugs that can lead to addition, overdose and many other unpleasant side effects.

“When we see that veterans are able to use medical cannabis and not use so many pills, it can have an extraordinarily good impact, with the pills themselves causing a lot of problems.” Michael Krawitz, the director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana, told Courthouse News Service.

Now, four war veterans and a victim of sexual assault have sued the state to force it to add PTSD to the list of conditions for which marijuana may be prescribed. Nine states currently have already done so.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Veterans Sue Colorado for Marijuana Rights (by Emma Gannon, Courthouse News Service)

Colorado Board Votes No on Allowing Medical Marijuana for PTSD (by Electa Draper, Denver Post)

Colorado Denies Veterans Medical Marijuana for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (by Nat Stein, Colorado Independent)

Senate Takes First Step to Allow Vets to Use Medical Marijuana (by Steve Straehley, AllGov)