A sober living home in Utah, Men’s Tribal House, is the first in the state to use medical cannabis to help its residents, according to a KJZZ report. About half of the facility’s 27 residents are using medical cannabis to stay clean of drugs such as opioids.
Shane Ericksen, the owner of Men’s Tribal House, said that when he started supporting medical cannabis at the recovery center he was “kind of a pariah” in the state’s addiction support industry. However, the home has a license to use medical cannabis in this way from the Department of Human Services and a physician assesses every new resident to determine if cannabis would help them.
“They’re not going to run down the block and get heroin. … All I think I’m doing is not discriminating against somebody’s right to use medical cannabis.” – Ericksen to KJZZ
Joshua Kyle Liberator, one of the residents of Men’s Tribal House, said that medical cannabis helps him get through the day.
“Instead of me going out and picking up a needle and sticking it in my arm,” he said in the report, “I pick up a vaporizer or I pick up a cartridge or a I pop a gummy in my mouth.”
The state’s medical cannabis law does not allow smokable forms of the substance. The residents at Men’s Tribal House are registered with the state program.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration does not allow federal funds to be used for addiction services that allow for the use of medical cannabis.
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