Pubdate: Thu, 15 Dec 2011
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Glen McGregor

POT PRESCRIPTION RAISES FORMER SOLDIER FROM "' THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL'

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Psychiatric Drugs Prescribed 
Through the Canadian Forces Led to a Bout With Crack Addiction in the 
Downtown Eastside, Says Chris Hillier

Chris Hillier's life arc bottomed out in a Vancouver back alley, 
across the country from his Newfoundland home and a world away from 
the war zone that broke him.

Homeless, penniless and addicted to crack cocaine, Hillier slept 
behind a community centre at the intersection of Hastings and Main, 
the notorious epicentre of the city's drug trade.

Three years earlier, Hillier was in the midst of a successful 
military career, serving his country as an air force firefighter 
aboard HMCS Preserver in the Middle East in the months after the 9/11 
strikes on the U.S.

His tour with Operation Apollo took him to the Gulf of Oman, the 
Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. But the constant stress of working 
in a theatre of war left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, a 
condition he believes was worsened by conventional pharmaceuticals 
prescribed by military doctors.

Today, the Mississauga, Ont., native is off the streets and clean 
because of a treatment that, he says, few in the Canadian military 
like to discuss: medical marijuana.

Hillier, 35, is one of just a handful of veterans who are treating 
their PTSD with cannabis that is paid for by Veterans Affairs Canada.

The department says 26 vets are part of Health Canada's Marihuana 
Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) program. Ten use it to treat PTSD, 
even though the Canadian Forces shun the drug for medical use.

The use of marijuana to treat PTSD is a contentious issue, 
particularly in the U.S., where thousands of veterans have recently 
returned from war zones.

Despite pressure from soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan , 
and advocacy by some doctors, the U.S. military has resisted calls to 
make it available to injured soldiers.

The U.S. Veterans Administration also does not consider marijuana a 
suitable treatment for PTSD and refuses to help its clients obtain it 
in any of the 16 states where it is available medicinally.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in September 
rejected a request to authorize marijuana testing on 50 veterans with PTSD.

The government said it had questions about the qualifications of the 
researchers and safety concerns about vets taking the drug outside of 
a medical facility.

The Canadian Forces will not consider prescribing marijuana to active 
members who might have the same health issues, either.

"The CF are committed to evidence-based medicine that has been 
thoroughly tested in multiple trials and published in peerreviewed 
journals," said Canadian Forces Health Service spokeswoman Colleen 
Boicey in an email.

"There is insufficient evidence for the safety and efficacy of 
medical use of marijuana in the treatment of PTSD."

A 2007 directive sent to Canadian Forces doctors specifically forbids 
them from helping patients get marijuana.

"No CF physician, third-party contract physician ... or a physician 
engaged under a DND contact will assist the patient to complete the 
submission to Health Canada under the MMAR," says the directive, 
released to Postmedia News under the Access to Information Act.

The forces will pay for authorized Health Canada marijuana if members 
are approved by another doctor, but base pharmacies will not 
participate in its supply.

To treat PTSD, the forces say they have a mental health program that 
"provides dedicated and responsive care for ill and injured CF members."

But Hillier blames that approach for pushing pharmaceutical drugs on 
him and putting him on the path to cocaine addiction. Though he 
hadn't been diagnosed, Hillier was already showing signs of PTSD when 
he came back from the war. He lost interest in his work. He was 
argumentative and couldn't sleep.

"I went from being a shining star to the bottom of the barrel," Hillier says.

He chose not to renew his military contract and by the time he left, 
he was dealing with serious drug-addiction issues. There was an 
assault charge on a police officer. Another charge for uttering 
threats. He lost custody of his children.

"It was really a downward spiral," he says. Only after he started 
using marijuana in Vancouver did he find some relief.

It helped control his anxiety and let him sleep. He put on weight he 
had shed during his addiction.

Hillier went home to Newfoundland and entered rehab. Doctors gave him 
psychiatric drugs - Zoloft, Risperidone, Seroquel - but he flushed 
them down the toilet and kept using cannabis.

"I was buying it on the street, growing it illegally in my basement," he says.

"It's what worked. Despite the fact it was a crime, I had to have 
some quality of life. I had to have some stability. The conventional 
drugs just created more problems."

He shook his addiction to hard drugs and eventually told his doctor 
in Newfoundland the secret behind his recovery.

She finally agreed to sign off on his application to enter Health 
Canada's medical marijuana program.

Veterans Affairs agreed to pay for the marijuana, as long as he 
bought it from Health Canada's supplier, Prairie Plant Systems. He 
found, however, that the strain of government-sanctioned pot 
increased his anxiety. Now he grows his own and his wife bakes it 
into cookies. If his stress level gets too high, he smokes a joint.

Hillier is enrolled in a Veterans Affairs vocational training 
program, learning to work in information technology security.

He says he is disappointed that the Canadian Forces aren't more open 
to marijuana to treat active service members dealing with stress disorders.

"The health and quality of life of our men and women in a uniform 
could be really improved," he says.

Hillier says marijuana can be more effective in treating the PTSD 
symptoms than the anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals that the military 
health system prescribes. The forces and Veterans Affairs should 
offer the best treatment for members with PTSD, just as they would 
for soldiers with physical injuries sustained on duty, he says.

"They have a legal and moral obligation to fix you."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom