Tag: ptsd

Medical Marijuana Prescriptions Rise Sharply In Israel Amid War With Hamas, Government Says As Patients Seek Relief From PTSD And Pain

A month into the war between Israel and Hamas, data from Israel’s Ministry of Health shows a sharp expansion in the reach of the medical marijuana program in that country. Patient enrollments have spiked, especially those tied to PTSD and pain, and doctors have prescribed more cannabis by weight than ever before.

Patient enrollment in Israel’s medical cannabis registry rose by 2,202 people in October, according to the newly released government numbers. That’s roughly twice the recent monthly average, though it’s not quite the rapid growth seen in early 2021, when nearly 3,000 patients were registering each month.

Regardless, Israel now has more registered medical cannabis patients than ever. And with more enrolled patients, there’s been a corresponding uptick in the amount of marijuana that is being prescribed. The country’s medical cannabis rules specify that a patient can purchase only up to a certain amount of specified products. In October, those products totaled 5,173 kilograms—not only a record in itself, but also the largest monthly increase ever recorded in the system, according to a local Israeli cannabis news publication. Data also showed an increase in the number of patients prescribed relatively high doses of marijuana.

Enrollment by qualifying condition, the local report noted, reflects an uptick in violence and wartime stressors. For example, data show an increase for the first time in at least a year in the number of marijuana prescriptions for “post-trauma,” or PTSD. Chronic pain continued to be a leading condition for marijuana patients, making up nearly three quarters of new enrollees, while another 400 patients in October enrolled for unspecified “other” conditions.

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VA And Defense Department Oppose Medical Marijuana For PTSD, But Take Neutral Position On Psychedelics As Research Continues

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) are strongly against the use of marijuana for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—but they’re taking a neutral position on psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD, simply saying that more research should be done.

In an update to their joint clinical practice guidelines, the departments provided recommendations on a variety of therapeutics used to treat PTSD and acute stress disorder that commonly afflict military veterans. And while many veterans use marijuana, often to treat symptoms of the conditions, the VA/DOD Management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder Work Group said it is fully against the alternative treatment option.

“The Work Group recommends against the use of cannabis or cannabis derivatives in treating patients with PTSD because of the lack of well-designed [randomized control trials] evaluating the efficacy of cannabis derivatives in large samples of individuals with PTSD and the serious side effects associated with their use,” it says.

“Evidence from the 2017 VA/DoD PTSD [clinical practice guidelines] indicates significant harm associated with cannabis use,” it said, arguing that research suggests that marijuana is linked to issues with attention, memory, IQ and driving.

While medical marijuana came with a “strong against” recommendation from the departments, they said that the work group’s confidence in the existing evidence is “very low” due to a “lack of randomized, controlled, methodologically sound clinical trials; small sample sizes, and selection bias.”

“The benefits of cannabis were outweighed by the potential serious adverse effects,” the document, published last month, says. “Patient values and preferences varied largely because some patients seek new, novel treatments although others might be unwilling to use cannabis or cannabis derivatives. Thus, the Work Group made the following recommendation: We recommend against cannabis or cannabis derivatives for the treatment of PTSD.”

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GOP Congresswoman Pushes For Psychedelics And Marijuana Research For Veterans In Floor Speech

A GOP congresswoman is touting recently released Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on psychedelics research and calling for additional work to study the therapeutic benefits of marijuana for military veterans.

In a speech on the House floor on Wednesday, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) talked about the need to support “novel forms of research” to unlock the potential of psychedelics and cannabis for the treatment of conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that commonly afflict veterans.

“As a doctor, former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health and 24-year U.S. Army veteran, the mental, emotional and physical health of my constituents and fellow veterans is one of my top priorities in Congress,” she said. “For too long, PTSD and other mental or physical ailments have had devastating effects and far too often go untreated.”

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Canada’s push to euthanize veterans with PTSD is ‘disgusting, unacceptable and infuriating’, says female artillery gunner who spent six months on the front line in Afghanistan

Canada has the world’s most permissive assisted suicide program. The country is on track to record some 13,500 state-sanctioned suicides in 2022, a 34 percent rise on the 10,064 in 2021, according to Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s analysis of official data. 

Canada’s politicians are currently weighing whether to expand access to include children and the mentally ill. 

Critics have argued the approach is a ‘slippery slope’ in a country where red tape makes it easier to access doctor-assisted suicide than it is to access benefits and help. 

Sheren is enraged by the ‘unacceptable’ and ‘infuriating’ law. She says she personally knows almost a dozen veterans who have been offered euthanasia by authorities, a ‘disgusting’ approach to ‘people who were willing to put their lives on the line… then you have the audacity to tell them it’s better if you just die’. 

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MDMA: Australia begins world-first psychedelic therapy

Earlier this year, researchers raised eyebrows when Australia’s traditionally conservative medicines regulator approved the use of psychedelics to assist therapy sessions.

The decision will see psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, used for treatment-resistant depression. It will also allow MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The changes come into effect on Saturday, making Australia the first country to classify psychedelics as medicines at a national level.

While initial access to the drugs will be limited and costly, many experts and patients are hailing it as a landmark moment.

But major health organisations have also urged caution.

Marjane Beaugeois was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017. “Within two months, I lost my mother, grandmother, beloved pet dog and my romantic relationship,” she recalls.

She couldn’t eat, shower, or leave her house in Melbourne – but says prescription antidepressants left her “zombie-like, unable to cry, self-soothe or feel better”.

“I’d still go to bed praying not to wake up,” the 49-year-old says.

When her research for alternative therapies led her to a psilocybin clinic in Amsterdam, she was hesitant.

“I have no history of drug or alcohol use. As an addiction counsellor, I was always very against it,” she says.

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FDA creates path for psychedelic drug trials

Federal regulators are laying out guidance for psychedelic drug trials for the first time, in a move that could encourage the mainstreaming of substances like magic mushrooms and LSD as behavioral health treatments.

Why it matters: Psychedelics are turning into a multi-billion industry and gaining widespread acceptance after decades of concerns about recreational use of the products — and the high risk for misuse. But research to date has largely been backed by private sponsors.

Driving the news: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released first-ever draft guidance outlining considerations — including trial conduct, data collection and subject safety — for researchers looking into psychedelic treatments for a variety of conditions, including PTSD, depression and anxiety.

  • The agency filed the 14-page document two days after a bipartisan coalition in Congress led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) introduced legislation directing the issuance of clinical trial guidelines.
  • It also came as 10,000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors converged on Denver for what was billed as the “largest psychedelic conference in history,” with guests ranging from New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers to National Institute of Mental Health director Joshua Gordon.

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Arizona funds research into ‘magic mushrooms’ to treat PTSD and depression

Arizona is headed toward funding the first controlled clinical trials for whole mushroom psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms,” to treat an array of health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. 

The state’s nearly $18 billion 2024 budget contains a provision providing $5 million for whole mushroom psilocybin trials. The money is the culmination of the efforts of Dr. Sue Sisely, an internal medicine physician and principal investigator at Scottsdale Research Institute, which conducts nonprofit drug development research on psychedelics, along with a bipartisan group of state legislators. 

“We’re thrilled that the research on natural mushrooms will finally be able to move forward, so this is a big achievement that finally we’re going to get objective data,” Sisely told the Arizona Mirror. “This will give us reliable insight into how these mushrooms might help or harm people. We need to learn more about how this works.”

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Helping veterans, battling opioid addiction driving magic mushroom legislation progress

Forty lawmakers, 36 Democrats and 4 Republicans, have co-sponsored a bill aiming to allow for the medical use of psilocybin and a psilocybin therapy grant program, which is currently sitting at the committee level of the Assembly, with its Senate version also in committee. The Assembly bill, A03581, was introduced by Democrat Pat Burke in February. There has been other legislation introduced regarding the hallucinogen as well, with Linda Rosenthal’s version legalizing the adult possession and use of hallucinogens like it.

Research has shown that psilocybin, an organic psychedelic compound, can benefit people with cluster headaches, depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, ADHD and obsessive compulsive disorder, but it’s getting the most universal traction because of its impact on those suffering from PTSD.

“Psilocybin doesn’t have the huge appeal that marijuana had,” Democrat Assemblyman Phil Steck, who is the Assembly’s Chairman of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, says. “But, there are definitely people who make a strong case for the proposition that it helps with PTSD. Certainly we want to do everything that we can to help people that are coming back from war, and if psilocybin has proven to do that, then it should be legal for that purpose.”

Johns Hopkins University has conducted several studies on psilocybin, saying it has substantial antidepressant effects, but needs to be administered under carefully controlled conditions through trained clinicians and therapists.

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Abrupt closure of ketamine clinic chain blindsides veterans and others with severe depression and chronic pain

Military veterans across the country are scrambling after more than a dozen clinics that had been providing them with free ketamine treatments for severe depression, chronic pain or post-traumatic stress disorder suddenly closed.

Patients and employees of the Ketamine Wellness Centers, or KWC, said they were blindsided when the company, one of the nation’s largest operators of ketamine clinics, announced on its website on March 10 that it had shuttered all 13 of its locations in nine states.

“I cried for days,” said Travis Zubick, a U.S. Navy veteran, who was a patient at the company’s Minnesota location. “They packed up and left town, and that’s over.”

Zubick and about 50 other former service members had been relying on KWC’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for free ketamine treatments.

Now, many are rushing to find another facility that takes their VA insurance before the effects of their last treatment wear off.

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Fauci Breaks Down Crying In New Documentary Trailer; Claims He’s Suffering From PTSD

Far-left Doctor Anthony Fauci has failed in every aspect of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. He has been wrong time and time again, but the left still worships him as their lord and savior.

In a new documentary which aims to glorify the failed Doctor, Fauci begins crying at one point because of how hard his life is.

The propaganda piece is directed by John Hoffman and Janet Tobias, and it attempts to paint Fauci as the “hero” of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as positively spin his past work against the HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola outbreaks.

When asked about one of his previous failures (the HIV outbreak), Fauci began tearing up and saying he has PTSD. Yes, really.

The most admired man in the mainstream media…who has gotten filthy rich with TV appearances and book deals…has “PTSD”.

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