{"id":5449,"date":"2017-11-06T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5449"},"modified":"2019-08-08T12:57:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:57:32","slug":"mmj-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5449","title":{"rendered":"Medical Marijuana Backward Federal Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

back<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Veterans tell of medical marijuana use in defiance of backward federal policy<\/h4>\n

By\u00a0Joe Davidson | Columnist<\/a><\/span>\u00a0November 6 at 7:00 AM<\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for medical marijuana, I wouldn\u2019t be here today,\u201d says Joshus Frey, a combat Marine with two Purple Hearts. Frey is pictured speaking at an American Legion news conference in Washington on Thursday. Photo by Lucas Carter\/The American Legion<\/span><\/div>\n

Joshua James Frey is clear: \u201cWithout medical marijuana I would be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

This Marine Corps veteran is a two-time Purple Heart awardee. He is among the former warfighters, led by the American Legion, who are on the frontlines of the fight for a sensible, federal medical marijuana policy.<\/p>\n

They are pushing a reluctant Uncle Sam to catch up with overwhelming public opinion that favors allowing cannabis for medical use. We covered the\u00a0Legion\u2019s Capitol Hill press conference<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday with Frey, other veterans and a bipartisan group from Congress. Veterans, among the most respected citizens, are a potent force in the effort to move the federal government from a backward, anti-marijuana stance that resembles the 1936 melodramatic film propaganda of \u201cReefer Madness<\/a>\u201d more than today\u2019s reality of widespread medical cannabis use.<\/p>\n

Now, we hear the stories of two veterans who use medical marijuana and one who didn\u2019t, but whose mother believes would be alive if he did. In powerful, emotional statements at the news conference, they all complained about the dangers of the drug cocktails prescribed by doctors who are prohibited from even discussing the marijuana that has proven far more beneficial for the two vets. Their stories differ starkly from a\u00a0presidential commission on drug addiction<\/a>\u00a0report this month that said \u201cthere is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential for marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Frey, a Melbourne, Fla., combat veteran of the Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment. \u201cMedical marijuana saved me,\u201d he told the Federal Insider. \u201cI feel like I did before the war (in Iraq) mentally and \u2026 know this could help not just the veterans struggling, but it could help anyone struggling with addiction and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It\u2019s time we all stand as one voice and truly move forward with\u00a0real hard-lined research and move forward with real compassionate care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frey was wounded twice in 2004, once in November by a\u00a0rocket-propelled grenade<\/a>. Less than a month later, shortly before Christmas, he was shot in the right shoulder, shattering it and detaching his right bicep. He spent two years at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, also known as Balboa Hospital, had six blood transfusions and 22 operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been real quiet about my medical marijuana use,\u201d he said at the news conference. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for medical marijuana, I wouldn\u2019t be here today. I wouldn\u2019t have kids today. I wouldn\u2019t have a beautiful wife I\u2019ve been married to for 13 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He resents the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) saying \u201cyou are doing something bad.\u201d \u201cWe need to stop the madness. We need to get this stuff on the books. \u2026 It could help a lot of vets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boone Cutler<\/a>\u00a0is an Army veteran who spent two years in Walter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from combat injuries suffered in Baghdad. Host of the Tipping Point show on KNEWS, 107.3 FM in Reno, Nev., he has been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson\u2019s disease, related to his wartime blast injury. He authored the Spartan Pledge, the veterans\u2019 commitment against suicide, and is a national spokesman for the Warfighter Rights Movement on PTSD issues.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nBoone Cutler, a medically retired Army veteran, describes the moment he contemplated suicide, blaming the prescription drugs for losing \u201cmy self-preservation instinct.\u201d Photo by Lucas Carter\/The American Legion<\/span><\/div>\n

During his two years at Walter Reed, \u201cI was given just about every chemical cocktail you can imagine. When people look at that cocktail they want to know two things. One, why am I still alive and two, why isn\u2019t somebody in prison, because it was that dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a low point, he \u201cgrabbed my gun and put it to my head,\u201d blaming the prescription drugs for losing \u201cmy self-preservation instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned to marijuana to help him sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy story is not one of Cheech and Chong,\u201d he said, sunglasses perched just above his eyes. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a good time when I started using cannabis. It was simply a way to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he tried marijuana he slept for five hours. \u201cAt that time,\u201d he said, \u201cI hadn\u2019t slept for five hours in five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janos \u201cJohnny\u201d Lutz isn\u2019t here to tell his story, so his mother did. She told a sad tale of depression and prescription drug complicit suicide. He saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 14 of his colleagues died during Operation Khanjar in Helmand Province in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our hope that the story of my son, who was lost because of prescribed pharmaceuticals will open your hearts and minds to research,\u201d Janine Lutz said before an emotional pause, \u201cto research cannabis, the most safe and effective treatment for our veterans today.\u201d She started the\u00a0LCpl Janos V Lutz Live to Tell Foundation<\/a>\u00a0in Davie, Fla., in support of military and first responders.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nJanine Lutz, CEO of the LCpl Janos V Lutz Live to Tell Foundation, talks about the suicide of her son, who overdosed on drugs that doctors prescribed. Photo by Lucas Carter\/The American Legion<\/span><\/div>\n

Her son was diagnosed with severe PTSD and brain injury. The two dozen drugs he was prescribed included Klonopin, which he took in June 2010. \u201cWithin a week, Johnny attempted suicide,\u201d said Lutz. Her son was saved, and \u201cDo not give Mr. Lutz Klonopin\u201d was noted on his hospital chart. But the veteran was not told that, and he continued to believe that \u201che wanted to take his own life by his own free will,\u201d his mother said, \u201cnot knowing that it was the medication that was messing with his mind.\u201d Three months later he was given the drug again, only to be followed by another unsuccessful suicide attempt.<\/p>\n

This scenario repeated in 2012, but this time her son was successful in his suicide by overdosing on the drugs doctors prescribed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my son would be here today,\u201d Lutz said, if medical marijuana had been available.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not for veterans at VA facilities. Almost\u00a0two-thirds of the general population<\/a>, however, live in the\u00a029 states and the District<\/a>\u00a0where doctors can recommend it. At the VA, medical professionals are not allowed to even discuss marijuana therapy.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Many veterans, some using medical cannabis from other sources, have asked VA doctors such as Katherine Mitchell in Phoenix about it. \u201cI was not officially allowed to discuss the subject,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether the establishment wants to recognize it or not,\u201d Mitchell added, \u201cbecause marijuana use has moved into the mainstream,\u00a0health-care providers have an ethical obligation to help our patients understand the potential positive and negative impacts marijuana could have on their health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she and other VA medical professionals must act like medical marijuana doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

What sense does that make?<\/p>\n

Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/powerpost\/wp\/2017\/11\/06\/veterans-tell-of-medical-marijuana-use-in-defiance-of-backward-federal-policy\/?utm_term=.53483223ebd8<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

back Veterans tell of medical marijuana use in defiance of backward federal policy By\u00a0Joe Davidson | Columnist\u00a0November 6 at 7:00 AM \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for medical marijuana, I wouldn\u2019t be here today,\u201d says Joshus Frey, a combat Marine with two Purple Hearts. Frey is pictured speaking at an American Legion …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannabis","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}