Title:
Health department moves forward on dispensaries, will consider PTSD!
Message:
Two exciting developments have taken place in Arizona. First, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) has announced it will accept dispensary applications between May 14 and May 25. This has been a long time coming, but the process is finally moving forward!
Second, DHS is considering a petition to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a qualifying medical condition. The ability to petition for inclusion of additional conditions was a key feature of Prop 203, and as evidence builds showing that war veterans and other trauma victims are receiving benefit from medical marijuana, the case for including PTSD has grown considerably.
Unfortunately, federal roadblocks have prevented doctors such as Dr. Sue Sisley, an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, from studying this critical issue. Dr. Sisley‘s study on the effects of medical marijuana on 50 veterans suffering from PTSD was approved by the FDA, but it was rejected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which has a monopoly on marijuana produced for research.
DHS will accept public comment on the petition at a May 25 hearing from 1:00-4:00 p.m. in the State Laboratory Conference Room (250 N. 17th Avenue, Phoenix).
