Fed OKs PTSD/marijuana study for vets

March 19--For the first time in history, the federal government has approved a small-scale clinical study of the effects of medicinal marijuana in the treatment of veterans who have PTSD, according to an Arizona newspaper and a newsletter about the rapidly growing business of medical and recreational pot.

The Weed Business Daily, citing reports from The Los Angeles Times and the Phoenix New Times, said the University of Arizona will conduct the study of 50 veterans, using several methods of administering the marijuana.

The effort was prompted in part because the state's medical marijuana law doesn't include PTSD among the qualifying ailments for obtaining a medical marijuana patient license. Voters and public interest groups have twice failed to have that condition, as well as anxiety disorders and clinical depression, to the state's qualification list.

The last refusal came in 2012, after the Arizona health department directed UA health researchers to assess all national data regarding the potential medicinal benefit of marijuana in PTSD treatment.

Trouble is, there isn't much data to assess.

So UA researchers petitioned the federal government for permission to conduct a small study and quickly received a nod from the FDA.

But, as other researchers before them, the effort was stalled by other federal organizations.

The only source for acquiring marijuana for research comes from a Mississippi farm overseen by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

NIDA in the past hasn't been open to studying marijuana as medicine and has fervently opposed legalization nationwide, the news outlets said.

But the University of Arizona research proposal somehow won a green light anyway.

The Weed Business Daily speculates that the UA study could crack open the door to more research.

That could mean more patients will benefit from medical marijuana, which of course would mean more marijuana growers, distributors and investors could expect higher profits from the country's fastest-growing -- and some say, most lucrative -- cash crop.

Local behavioral health experts who treat veterans for PTSD through programs at Parkview Medical Center declined to comment about the pending UA study.

Here, as nationwide, there is a high incidence of substance use disorders among veterans who have PTSD.

Proponents of adding marijuana to the treatment arsenal say there has never been a documented suicide, fatality or other violent incident linked to marijuana use. The same can't be said for alcohol, prescription painkillers or illegal drugs.

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