Contributed article
The Arizona Department of Health Services has accepted a petition to add post-traumatic stress disorder as a debilitating condition under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.
The Department of Health Services will hold a public hearing to accept oral comments Oct. 29, 2013, from 10-11 a.m., at 250 N. 17th Ave., Phoenix.
The Greene Consulting Group, a team of 2013 graduates of the University of Arizona College of Law, prepared the petition in conjunction with the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association.
“Our Arizona veterans and other Arizona residents afflicted with PTSD deserve nothing less,” said Heather Manus, Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association president and a registered nurse.
A 2012 Department of Veterans Affairs report stated that 239,174 veterans were coded with PTSD on Veterans Health Administration rosters. In 2013, a VA study found a 20-percent increase in veteran suicides since 2007, with 22 veterans committing suicide each day.
Manus said current pharmaceutical cocktails are often ineffective and riddled with side effects; this petition provides the evidentiary support for marijuana’s efficacy in treating PTSD’s horrid host of symptoms.
For the veterans who are afflicted by PTSD, the petitioners state they hope that the Department of Health Services will recommend listing PTSD under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act and grant those veterans the freedom to choose an effective treatment for PTSD.
The petition received unanimous support from the Arizona Dispensary Association and is co-sponsored by The Green Halo, a Tucson dispensary, and the first licensed medical marijuana edibles and infusion kitchen in the state of Arizona, known as the Heavenly Harvest. Manus also serves as the executive director of the Heavenly Harvest.
The Department of Health Service Web page for the public hearing is here. Members of the public who cannot attend the live hearing can submit comments to the Department of Health Services .
A copy of the petition here
Also:
| Medical marijuana spinoff firms look to cash in on new rules … – CBC |
If you’d like to discuss medical marijuana, contact Ryan Hurley, director of the Rose Law Group Medical Marijuana Dept. rhurley@roselawgroup.com
