I am a fifty-nine year old male, married for thirty-three years with three grown children and one grandchild. in 1991 i was diagnosed with PTSD, before that I was being treated for depression. The illness is caused from child abuse.

When i was fourteen I tried marijuana, after about eight months of sniffing carbon tetrachloride occasionally. I tried marijuana a number of times after that and didn't like the effects. I felt insecure and sometimes paranoid, so I stayed with the more potent drugs. i went into the merchant marines for twenty-three years where it was a perfect job for me. At the time drugs were easily accessible in foreign ports and alcohol abuse was often tolerated, at least , much more than most jobs ashore.

About two and a half years ago, I tried marijuana again, after having a few beers and felt terrific. I thought it was one of the few enjoyable afternoons I've experienced in a long time. A week latter, beers and marijuana. This became more frequent when I purchased an ounce and changed from beer to whiskey. Everything was beautiful, not a care in the world. At the time I was taking 3 mg.Risperdal/ day, 30mg.of Mertazapine at night, and three mg. of Xannex/ day, and antidepressants.

I was feeling so good I slowly decreased this to my antidepressants and one Xannex in the morning. When I saw my doctor months latter, I mentioned my routine, one double Manhatten and a bowl of marijuana in the morning, and I've never felt better in my life. He suggested I stay away from alcohol (for good reason) along with another good piece of advice and I quit drinking again. It was the marijuana all along.

I'm focused, enjoying talking with people and getting out, have more patients, am much more content with myself than the daily self hatred I was used to have. There are occassionally a few bad days, but nothing like I was experiencing before. I There is no desire to drink ( it's been seven months). My family knows of this medication and can see a huge difference. I feel I can handle some situations that will be thrown at me in a much more realistic manner than some of the bazaar ways I used to cope.

This sounds too good to be true, but feel so confident that this has changed my life, I'm persistent in making sure that PTSD is included in our marijuana bill.

I smoke a small bowl using a water pipe in the morning and have ordered a vaporizer. The afternoons are the same as shortly after I smoke and I don't get high. Like all drugs in the past I had to try and take myself on a good ride a couple of times and it was a waste. I felt the same after smoking one bowl as I did three.