Robert Celt
New Member
Veterans, civilians and first responders seeking relief from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress and other ailments through cannabis will have a new option for help next week.
Set to open Monday on Discovery Avenue in Kingston's east side, Marijuana for Trauma Inc.'s new Kingston branch is to be the company's largest in Ontario.
The new office is to help people access marijuana through their health benefits programs and offer advice about how they can best use it to ease their illnesses.
While many organizations are opening up to help people access medical marijuana, Marijauna for Trauma focuses on helping veterans.
"There are a lot of places that are popping up that are one-trick ponies. Not us," said company president Chris Dupee, who founded Military Minds, a peer support organization for soldiers with operational stress injuries, such as PTSD.
"We're a family. We're trying to recreate the military brotherhood outside of the military."
But the company and its supporters plan the new branch to offer more than just marijuana advice.
The Kingston branch is considered a Generation 2 store. The company's original stores were smaller and only connected veterans with ways to access cannabis.
"Cannabis starts being a small portion of what we do," former soldier and veterans advocate Mike Collins said. "It's a component."
The new store is to provide access to social workers and massage therapists. The office is also to provide peer support nights, music and art therapy sessions and spousal support meetings.
"We watched statistics for years of Afghan vets, Bosnian vets going through some very, very severe things, up to and including suicide. Divorce rates were skyrocketing, booze, pill usage. Guys getting arrested. Homeless veterans falling through the social cracks," Collins said.
"And now we can get this fixed with a plant? Why are we not doing this?"
The Kingston store's opening comes at a time of easing attitudes toward medical marijuana and follows two separate political shifts dealing with PTSD and marijuana.
Earlier this month, the Ontario government passed legislation that creates a presumption that PTSD diagnosed in first responders is work-related.
And last week the federal government announced plans to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana.
While Canadian society may be relaxing its view on marijuana, Andrew Brown, Marijuana for Trauma's Ontario vice-president, said the Canadian Forces has been slower to change.
"We don't even help serving soldiers get prescribed cannabis unless they have a release message in hand, because some people in military community viewed us a threat to operational security for a while because serving soldiers would be prescribed," Brown said.
"The army hasn't caught up to the general population's opinion on medical cannabis."
Mike Collins, who himself has a medical marijuana prescription, has no such reservations about what it can do for him and other veterans.
"I know guys that were basically shut-ins. Now they are taking their kids to hockey games, they're getting out shopping with their wives, they are doing more family stuff, they are going on vacations again," Collins said.
"That stuff was just unheard of. It can be debilitating. Post-traumatic stress can be debilitating."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Treating Trauma Focus Of Canadian Medical Marijuana Firm
Author: Elliot Ferguson
Photo Credit: Elliot Ferguson
Website: The Whig
Set to open Monday on Discovery Avenue in Kingston's east side, Marijuana for Trauma Inc.'s new Kingston branch is to be the company's largest in Ontario.
The new office is to help people access marijuana through their health benefits programs and offer advice about how they can best use it to ease their illnesses.
While many organizations are opening up to help people access medical marijuana, Marijauna for Trauma focuses on helping veterans.
"There are a lot of places that are popping up that are one-trick ponies. Not us," said company president Chris Dupee, who founded Military Minds, a peer support organization for soldiers with operational stress injuries, such as PTSD.
"We're a family. We're trying to recreate the military brotherhood outside of the military."
But the company and its supporters plan the new branch to offer more than just marijuana advice.
The Kingston branch is considered a Generation 2 store. The company's original stores were smaller and only connected veterans with ways to access cannabis.
"Cannabis starts being a small portion of what we do," former soldier and veterans advocate Mike Collins said. "It's a component."
The new store is to provide access to social workers and massage therapists. The office is also to provide peer support nights, music and art therapy sessions and spousal support meetings.
"We watched statistics for years of Afghan vets, Bosnian vets going through some very, very severe things, up to and including suicide. Divorce rates were skyrocketing, booze, pill usage. Guys getting arrested. Homeless veterans falling through the social cracks," Collins said.
"And now we can get this fixed with a plant? Why are we not doing this?"
The Kingston store's opening comes at a time of easing attitudes toward medical marijuana and follows two separate political shifts dealing with PTSD and marijuana.
Earlier this month, the Ontario government passed legislation that creates a presumption that PTSD diagnosed in first responders is work-related.
And last week the federal government announced plans to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana.
While Canadian society may be relaxing its view on marijuana, Andrew Brown, Marijuana for Trauma's Ontario vice-president, said the Canadian Forces has been slower to change.
"We don't even help serving soldiers get prescribed cannabis unless they have a release message in hand, because some people in military community viewed us a threat to operational security for a while because serving soldiers would be prescribed," Brown said.
"The army hasn't caught up to the general population's opinion on medical cannabis."
Mike Collins, who himself has a medical marijuana prescription, has no such reservations about what it can do for him and other veterans.
"I know guys that were basically shut-ins. Now they are taking their kids to hockey games, they're getting out shopping with their wives, they are doing more family stuff, they are going on vacations again," Collins said.
"That stuff was just unheard of. It can be debilitating. Post-traumatic stress can be debilitating."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Treating Trauma Focus Of Canadian Medical Marijuana Firm
Author: Elliot Ferguson
Photo Credit: Elliot Ferguson
Website: The Whig