Pubdate: Sun, 03 Mar 2013
Source: Tribune, The (Greeley, CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Greeley Publishing Co.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/2T4s2YlD
Website: http://www.greeleytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3165
Note: Note: typically publishes LTEs from circulation area only
Author: Whitney Phillips

GREELEY VET FACES JAIL TIME FOR USING MARIJUANA AS TREATMENT FOR PTSD

Former U.S. Navy Corpsman Jeremy Usher came home in 2003 from Iraq 
and Afghanistan to sleepless nights and panic attacks, with vivid 
flashbacks of combat, horrifying nightmares, anxiety and depression, 
all amid memory loss and a severe stutter.

After turning to alcohol to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress 
disorder, Jeremy is serving probation in Weld and Larimer counties 
for his second and third DUIs. He's doing well in counseling and 
school, he says, but he faces jail time for using marijuana 
medicinally while on probation to manage his PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

Jeremy finds himself in legal limbo. Medicinal marijuana is the one 
treatment that's helped him with his PTSD, but he violates his 
probation when he uses it, which puts him at risk of going back to jail.

"The court systems are very black and white, and PTSD is the 
definition of gray area," said Jeremy, 31. "They're not acknowledging 
the gray area."

Jeremy - "Doc" to the Marines he treated as a combat medic - 
remembers hearing a loud snap when he was shot in the side of his 
head. He was on the back of a helicopter sent into a hot zone to 
rescue wounded Marines, and he was struck as they were lifting off 
the ground, leaving him brain damage that caused his memory loss and stutter.

"I think the fact that I can't remember what happened is a good 
thing," Jeremy said.

After a stint in a San Diego hospital and being discharged with an 
"OK, good luck," Jeremy suffered from extreme paranoia as he wandered 
San Diego, constantly spinning around while walking to make sure no 
one was sneaking up on him. His nightmares of what he'd seen - an 
armed Iraqi civilian he killed in combat -- kept him up at night. 
Anything that sounded like gunfire or a mortar round would set him 
into panic mode.

"Fourth of July has always been hell for me," said Jeremy, who is the 
brother of Tribune employee Jennifer Usher.

During the next few years, Jeremy began drinking heavily and 
developed for the first time, a criminal history: a DUI in 
California, a phone harassment charge for calling an ex-girlfriend 
repeatedly, a protection order violation for drinking, and then two 
more DUIs within months of each other.

Jeremy served time in jail and was sentenced to probation in Weld and 
Larimer for the DUIs, and both probation sentences have been extended 
twice because Jeremy didn't immediately start DUI treatment classes 
while he was seeking PTSD treatment at a Department of Veterans 
Affairs hospital.

After a judge denied his request to continue using marijuana 
medicinally while on probation, Jeremy got a prescription for 
Marinol, a synthetic, highly expensive version of marijuana's active 
ingredient, THC.

Now, with his service dog Rodney constantly by his side, he's sober, 
succeeding in counseling for PTSD and alcohol dependency, and he's in 
his third year of classes at Aims Community College.

"I'm never going to be free of the flashes of the memories; I'm stuck 
with those for life," he said. "What I'm able to do is manage those 
in an appropriate manner, without just going out and cracking open a bottle."

With hands tied

As the VA representative in the Aims Community College financial aid 
office, Bob Small has worked with Jeremy since he started classes a 
few years ago. He's seen vast improvement in Jeremy's interactions 
with other students and teachers since he started using marijuana and 
Marinol, and he's concerned that taking away that treatment will 
stall Jeremy's improvement.

"Here's something that's helping him, but it's creating a barrier," Small said.

Small, a 30-year member of the Navy and Air Force, deals daily with 
veterans who suffer from the same flashbacks, nightmares and anxiety 
as Jeremy, and he knows their PTSD is often misunderstood by 
civilians. As a veteran in the legal system, Jeremy says he 
understands that barrier all too well.

Jeremy said he feels that the probation department doesn't understand 
the seriousness or scope of his PTSD. Standard procedures for 
probation, like a probation officer knocking on his door unexpectedly 
for a home visit, can send him into a world of panic. He's asked 
probation officers to call when they get to his house, but they say 
they can't give him warning.

Jerry Green , Weld County's Chief Probation Officer, said he can't 
comment specifically on Jeremy's case because of privacy laws, but he 
said probation officers work as much as possible with people in 
special circumstances. He said they have to turn the case over to a 
judge after repeated violations.

Most of all, though, Jeremy views the idea of being denied the right 
to use medical marijuana - as opposed to paying about $18 per pill 
for Marinol - as the worst example of the way in which the justice 
system isn't flexible enough for veterans with PTSD.

"It's like I'm being punished for being a little different, and I'm 
not understanding why," he said. Still, said Small: "The system's not 
a bad guy in this. Their hands are tied."

'Out the window'

Jeremy faces 29 days in jail for failing dozens of drug tests while 
he was using medical marijuana. His probation officer has filed a 
complaint to revoke his probation for those failures. In Larimer 
County, a judge placed him on unsupervised probation, which means he 
no longer has to take those tests. Jeremy fears that jail time will 
mean he has no access to Marinol or anxiety medication, and without 
Rodney to wake him from nightmares and flashbacks, Jeremy says all 
the progress he's made will go "out the window."

Others, including Small and Jeremy's treatment providers, have the 
same concern.

His doctors have written letters saying they've seen that marijuana 
and Marinol help Jeremy. Those treatment providers, including one at 
the VA, wrote that they want him to continue with his current treatment.

Weld County Jail officials say Jeremy would be evaluated individually 
for necessary medications. Small said if Jeremy does serve jail time, 
he's planning to take Jeremy homework assignments to help "keep his 
mind focused on his education." District Attorney Ken Buck didn't 
comment specifically on Jeremy's case but said that anyone who 
violates probation by using marijuana has to face consequences.

"They can't violate state or federal law," Buck said. "That's a court 
ruling. That isn't a Ken Buck rule." Buck said he is concerned about 
the fact that Jeremy is a veteran, and his office is working on 
creating a veterans diversion court. They haven't considered how to 
deal with DUI cases, though, "because they're so dangerous," Buck said.

"We're trying to deal with those who have served their country and 
who have come back with injuries in a special way," Buck said. Jeremy 
hopes to be allowed to complete probation using Marinol, without 
serving jail time. He said even if that doesn't happen, he hopes 
officials will find a way in the future to help veterans who get 
tangled in the legal system.

"I want to raise enough awareness so that this doesn't happen to guys 
coming out of there," Jeremy said.

[sidebar]

PTSD and marijuana

There's no finite ruling on how effectively marijuana treats PTSD 
symptoms, but some research and physicians support the use of medical 
marijuana as a treatment. In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a bill 
that would at PTSD to the list of ailments that can legally be 
treated with marijuana.

Doctors and researchers told an Oregon Senate committee last month 
that marijuana has produced consistently positive results in PTSD patients.

Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana 
Access, which is backing the bill, said denying PTSD patients the 
right to use marijuana medicinally is akin to denying insulin to a diabetic.

"They need to get away from this culture war and accept this is a 
useful medical treatment," Krawitz said.

Caught in the middle

Much like our county's law enforcement agencies, the Department of 
Veterans Affairs is caught between state laws allowing medicinal 
marijuana use and the federal government's prohibition of it.

Recognizing marijuana as an effective treatment method for veterans, 
the VA issued a directive, warning vets that if they use marijuana on 
agency property, they are subject to federal laws. However, the 
directive also points out that veterans will see no repercussions at 
the VA for using marijuana as treatment.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom