BEST CARE ABSENT

Post-traumatic stress disorder is afflicting nearly one in five
veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. The drugs they are
prescribed have been implicated in several veterans' overdose deaths.
Alternatives exist, but veterans are denied access.

As former Gov. Bob Kerrey and Jason Flom of the Drug Policy Alliance
noted in a nationally published column, the Veterans Administration
has adopted a policy prohibiting its physicians from recommending
medicinal cannabis to VA patients to treat PTSD. "The VA claims the
ban is primarily a response to threats from the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) to prosecute VA doctors for recommending
medicinal cannabis or for completing necessary forms to enroll
veterans in a state cannabis program," their column said.

Cannabis research and patient reports show it to be the safest and
most effective medicine to treat PTSD. The ban also means veterans
who live in one of the 14 states that have approved its use must find
a private physician to become registered and then pay for the
medicine out of pocket.

An article by Dr. Byron Barksdale of North Platte in the May issue of
Prairie Fire listed 20 distinguishing characteristics of how
medicinal cannabis users differ from the stereotypical "pothead"
recreational users. That the user may have provided heroic service to
his country and is afforded the best care by a grateful nation is
shamefully absent from that list.

Wayne Whitmarsh, Lincoln