In 2003, at age 60, I retired from the Army after 29 years of service. This included 30 months of flying helicopters in Vietnam and a 15-month stint in Korea.
Previously, in the early 1990s, I had been referred to a psychologist and, subsequently, to a psychiatrist who diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. At that time, I was also being treated at Duke University Pain Clinic in Chapel Hill for chronic pain (degenerative disc disease); it was aggravated by a service-related injury I received during hurricane-recovery deployment with the National Guard in North Carolina.
My treatment consisted of periodic injections, numerous COX 2 inhibitors and occasional narcotics. Treatment made the pain tolerable, but the treatment for PTSD led to sleeping pills, Paroxetine for nerves, opiates and 10 years of counseling.
After retiring, I was told by friends and other veterans that cannabis was their choice of treatment. I was supplied with a joint to try. Skeptical at first, but willing to try anything to escape the memories (80 percent of returning vets from the Middle East report problems sleeping), I tried it. To my surprise, I began to see an improvement in my pain, from a level of about 1 to 3 to total pain relief.
That alone was uplifting, but there was more: The anxiety that had me on Ambien for over 10 years was mostly gone — and so was the prescription to Ambien to which I had become habituated at the least, if not addicted.
With these unexpected improvements, I began searching for information. I was fortunate to find Patients Out of Time, an organization that provides continuing education for health care professionals in the 23 states that have legalized the medical use of cannabis. At the first conference in Rhode Island, I was shocked at the level of legitimate research supporting the medical use of cannabis. The evidence presented was eye-opening and almost unbelievable, except it was presented by doctors with impeccable credentials.
Among these doctors was Dr. Raphael Mechoulam from Hebrew University in Israel. He spoke of the incredible progress with Israeli soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injuries. We currently have over 260,000 vets with diagnosed brain injuries.
How in God’s name can we know that something is helpful, and yet deny it to the same veterans we tell daily, “Thanks for your service”?
Since then, I have attended three conferences. The latest details the wonderful results from cannabis treatments in both mental and physical problems suffered by the vets. What’s more, the last event in Oregon was entitled, “Age-Related Illnesses and Cannabis.” Who among us is not aging?
I’m not a doctor, and I can only attest to the incredible results for myself. CBD oil does not work for me, but smoking cannabis does. As a Christian committed to searching for truth, I am bound to tell what I know to be true in my own case.
As a veteran, please don’t just thank me for my service. Please consider the scientific evidence before denying me the right to treat my PTSD and chronic pain with cannabis. Allow me the option of treating my wounds with what works best for me. Is that too much to ask?
Perry Parks, who lives in Rockingham, N.C. , has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Bronze Stars, among other honors.
