A bill allowing medical cannabis use as a post-traumatic stress disorder therapy is set to be introduced this session in Colorado, according to a report from the Associated Press. But if history is any indication it’s likely going to be tough sledding – the state’s Medical Board has rejected PTSD as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis at least four times.
If approved, PTSD patients would be moved into the state’s medical cannabis program, which would allow them to purchase cannabis outside of the heavily taxed adult-use program. So far, 19 states have approved PTSD as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis use.
Sen. Irene Aguilar, the bill sponsor who worked for 23 years as a primary care provider for Denver Health and Hospitals before her election, said the measure would “allow physicians to put marijuana in their toolbox if they so choose.”
“There is an institutional bias against marijuana in the medical profession,” she said in the report.
Since 2015, the state Health Department has earmarked about $3.3 million for medical cannabis studies aimed at developing PTSD treatments, which includes an observational study of 76 military veterans.
Colorado’s roll of 100,000 registered medical cannabis patients has remained stable since the 2012 passage of adult-use laws.