Polarized by violence and the current political atmosphere, America is currently a country divided. While the recent tragedy in Dallas has brought some closer, it has also shone the spotlight on the shooter. He was an Army vet who “changed” while on tour overseas. This is not the first shooter who has been seen as mentally unfit or just as not lucid. However, the mental aspect side of our healthcare system is broken for our veterans. The treatments are not fully effective and lead to many patients becoming addicted to their medications. Opiates are common among our Vets and yet they are rarely ever an actual cure or treatment.

One would think that a treatment such as one for PTSD would be effective, but America’s is not. Perhaps this is due to lack of funding, perhaps it has gone unnoticed. In the end it does not truly matter. Thanks to the election, more pressure is being put on the VA to perform its functions correctly. However, the agency needs not only to perform their functions better, but must also find a more effective treatment for our soldiers. In some areas the government is testing the use of THC oils and pills as possible treatments for our soldiers. However, this would obviously require the removal of marijuana from the list of schedule one drugs in order for it to become legalized nationwide. This is not fantasy, nor is it the goal of hippies to see this goal accomplished. Seeing the results from labs testing and working with THC is remarkable. The compound seems to have the capacity to help cancer patients all the way to PTSD patients. It could be used as a cure all pain suppressor as well replacing addictive and costly opiates.

For many they see the legalization of marijuana as a hippie’s fight, a fight that is purely so people can just legally smoke a drug. This is just simply not the case, as there are ways to move beyond the plant itself. For many the drug would be used in an oil form or in pills that they would simply ingest. THC spiked food, drinks and candy are other ways in which patients could be treated. THC brings about a new form of treatment, instead of taking horrible medicine or a course of chemo the patient can simply eat a cookie every day instead. It is things like this that even open the possibility of the limited or only necessary applications of THC to children in need. While some would disagree that getting kids high is the right answer, I hold that it is just as healthy if not more so than any chemo or opiate the doctors would typically prescribe.

This is a door into a new world, one without deadly opiate addictions. Opiates have and are taking over our country. Drugs such as tobacco and alcohol are openly permitted, yet we don’t question it because that’s how it has always been. Why then is marijuana so taboo? Are we still so naive to ignore the miracles THC can produce? The bottom line is this: both marijuana and opiates are drugs. One is addictive and one is not. While that statement is debatable, you will never find someone laying in a bed overdosed on marijuana. I think that is one point that is crucial in this discussion on how to treat PTSD. Opiates have had their chance and have failed our soldiers. Now it is time for us to push for a new treatment for the men and women whom gave their being over to violence to protect us here at home. Our soldiers deserve better regardless of where the solution comes from, be it a new medicine or one that is thousands of years old. All that matters is that we begin to help those who never fully came home.