Pot Does Not Cure PTSD

Yesterday, The New York Times ran an article highlighting the potential virtues of treating post-traumatic stress disorder with marijuana.

This piece details plans by an outfit called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which hangs out in Santa Cruz, Calif., to conduct a clinical trial to treat vets with 1.8 grams of government-approved grass a day over a three month period, to see if it works as a PTSD treatment.

I can save the MAPS researchers the trouble -- after Vietnam I tried a variety of substances, including pot and alcohol, to manage PTSD, and this approach not only exacerbated the PTSD problem, but burdened me with a few new ones. (Unlike William Jefferson Clinton, I did inhale.)

That's because there is a comorbid relationship between PTSD and drug and alcohol use. This means that vets who try to treat their combat stress with drugs or alcohol run the risk of addiction or dependence, as a study from the VA National Center for PTSD reported.

So I have a hard time imagining how the fact that a prescription for pot -- rather than the stuff bought on the street -- will magically reduce the comorbidity problem.

Let me say it again -- based on some really tough experiences, pot does not cure PTSD, whether you buy it on the street or get it from a guy in a white coat.