Pubdate: Sat, 03 Oct 2015 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2015, The Belleville Intelligencer Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/letters Website: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Author: Tim Miller Page: 2 MARIJUANA A LIFE CHANGER "A life changer." That's how retired veteran Rob Kennedy explains the impact switching from pharmaceuticals to medical marijuana had on his life. Kennedy served in Royal Canadian Armoured Corps for 28 years with the last eight years of those stationed in Trenton. In July of this year he retired for medical reasons due to both chronic pain and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of his time in service. "I have a lot of injuries from my service, a broken hip, a herniated disc in my back and a lot of severe arthritis," he explained. He was initially treating his chronic pain with over the counter medication in ever-increasing strength until he was looking at having to move to Oxycontin - a move he simply wasn't comfortable in making. "I had a lot of friends, veterans with the same injuries I had, that were using medical marijuana successfully. Not going through the walking around like a zombie or being hooked on pills and destroying your liver and your kidneys anymore." It was at this point he first became involved with the company Marijuana For Trauma Inc. (MTF) "I found it a life changer, a game changer. Six months ago I was in my house, in chronic pain, my head space wasn't right," he said, going on to add the move to medical marijuana has given him a quality of life he wouldn't otherwise have had. "I'm starting to ride a mountain bike; I'm out in public more. I still deal with my PTSD and my crowd issues but it gave me a quality of life to get out and I'm enjoying stuff. "Six months ago you wouldn't see me in a room with six other people. It's given me that freedom and quality of life." Kennedy is now taking that experience and paying it forward with Friday's grand opening of an MTF office in Quinte West. "I volunteered my time to do this. I'm not a paid employee, none of us are." MTF primarily acts as an advocate and an organizer, helping veterans, first responders and civilians alike to access medical marijuana. Kennedy says the process is "very easy." If someone has a signed diagnosis from a doctor that can be treated with cannabis they provide that, fill out a questionnaire, do an interview with an MTF doctor over Skype and, after that, they are then put in contact with a licensed producer. "Within two weeks after, you can have a product at your door and you can start medicating with it." MTF itself doesn't distribute or hold any marijuana out of the office and instead acts as a facilitator for its clients. "We can hook them up with nice respectable places and get it delivered right to their door. Everything is legal; it's all above the board here." But MTF does more than just that, explains Kennedy. "That's the 25 per cent you see is the medical marijuana and getting people in touch. The second side of this, the 75 per cent, are peer support groups." MTF provides a comfortable area to sit and visit with others in similar circumstances as well as potentially having volunteers come in to put on various classes such as cooking and yoga. Sean Mahr of Hamilton, himself a veteran of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, is the peer support co-ordinator. "We sit around; we do a little check in to see how you're doing. We just share similar experiences. We don't do any politics or religion it's more just 'how are you doing right now'?" Mahr is also a client of MTF and shares Kennedy's experience with medical marijuana as treatment. "It's huge. I went off all the narcotics and now I'm strictly on medical marijuana and it's changed my life drastically." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom