A VOICE FOR VETS
One Veteran's Goal to Inform PTSD Sufferers About the Effectiveness of Medical Marijuana By Abby Meaux Conques “I didn’t see myself as being disabled, I saw my situation as having obstacles.” This is what (medically retired) U.S. Marine veteran, Elizabeth Damron, told me about her passionate pursuit of plant medicine and cannabinoid therapy. In 2014, Damron was forced to medically retire from the U.S. Marine Corps for Post-traumatic stress disorder. At that time, she was prescribed 18-20 pharmaceuticals a day by doctors. “My physical body was dying because of the meds. It was a shell of an existence; I did rounds of therapy...I needed a radical life change,” she explained.
WHAT LED HER TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA Damron is a product of a military family. She had aspirations of keeping the family military legacy alive by keeping fit and eating right in high school. “I didn’t smoke marijuana in high school; I knew I wanted to join the 18
military and smoking would hinder those chances, but I always respected the plant,” she explained. It wasn’t until post medical military retirement that she gave it a try after it was suggested to her. “At that time I had been on so many meds...Effexor, Lexipro, the list is long,” she said. Damron explained that the medicines she was prescribed never gave her a sense of contentment, much less euphoria. She mentioned she barely felt anything, really. Damron has a degree in psychology and is educated on various disorders and subsequent medications to treat them. “I knew I couldn’t live a fulfilled life on those prescribed meds,” she said. After Damron tried cannabis, she noticed evidence of the plant working in ways in which other modalities never did for her. “I was an occasional user and would notice being elevated to a place where I was able to begin weaning off of medications,” she explained. As a mother of two, she recalls being prescribed heavyduty pharmaceuticals while pregnant as she did not want L OU ISIA N A H EM P M A GA ZIN E
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