I also know of 5 ptsd with doctors perscriptions who use Medical Marijuana & are doing well in therapy too & no side effects

Ive smoked pot now for over 15 years to help me. works get sme out of my head space. im such a better person with it

X 2 on this! I have not smoked pot habitually since high school (pun not intended but still accurate). I started a few months ago to help with the anxiety because I just needed a brake form it. it has helped but there are probably better prescription drugs out there but so far my psychiatrist has yet to prescribe them. It's funny that I was honest with the VA because I asked and they try to blame much of my problems on pot. smoking pot for 2 months suffering from PTSD for 3+ years seems like simple math to me!

Don't know if anyone has noticed my post titles are usually musically referenced. This is because every thought, feeling, random outburst that strolls thru my head has it's own theme song. Even the rare moments of lucid silence have musical accompaniment.

As for this thread subject, I am a yes. And like many others my med of choice is MJ, although I have not been able to acquire it except rarely since leaving the south.

I was on a 2-3 doob a day regimen and it kept my demon (rage) manageable. I could be angry without losing control. It did not deaden my emotions as I still felt overwhelmed at times of turmoil and would have hours long sob fests on occasion.

What it is for me is "The Great Cohesive", it brings all of the me's together, united against external and internal assualt. It quiets the malestrom of my brain activity and allows me to pluck ideas and thoughts as a whole instead of in shreds. My writing has been complimented and much as I appreciate the notice if you knew how long it actually takes..like listening to a song played warped, at high speed and trying to write down the lyrics..so I replay my thought again and again until I can get it all down. Wouldn't you know my mind has a sadistic twist to it and will sometimes change the thought or replay at a faster speed or lose it altogether.. o_O yeesh

I have recently reconsidered professional therapy but it raises such a clamor of dissention within my head that I quickly dismiss the notion. Seems this forum is the closest thing my psyche will accept. So on I go, sans meds.

I smoked pot of and on for years and it helped sometimes and made me paranoid sometimes.

I drank a lot until I decided I was going down a particularly dark path with it - making decisions I didn't morally agree with and taking risks I shouldn't have taken. The alcohol was quite a comfort though before I became anxious about possible alcoholism.

I did coke a few times and it was glorious. Not because it made me feel *good* which it really didn't but because it made me seriously not give a flying flip about other people's intentions or feelings. I felt a little arrogant and I guess the opposite of paranoid and that was a beautiful relief.

I did shrooms twice. The first time, I realized how much of my mind was full of these worries that I have and how if I weren't so nervous and worried about everything all the time, I'd have a lot more time to think and do other stuff. The second time was extremely bad as I got triggered while high by my abuser. But I was able to isolate myself and I spent I don't know how long just crying and crying and crying and really feeling the depth of the pain and sense of fear and betrayal and anger. It was a miserable, terrible experience and I should not have put myself in that position - high with my former abuser. I think it actually re-traumatized me and I regressed a lot for a number of months. But as horrible as it was and as much as I think it was a mistake, at the same time, it re-opened the wound entirely and I was allowed to acknowledge to myself what had happened and to some extent to grieve it. I'm still grieving it. Up until then, I spent more efforts on trying to minimize what had happened to me and trying to be *okay with* and *forgive.* So in a round-about way I think it was helpful.

I'm currently living a sober existence. I don't know that I'm committed to it forever, but it does appear to be what I'm doing right now. I have figured out that the times I get out-of-control panicky that popping a few benedryl will help me out a lot. I know that's not what they are intended for, but they bring me off the ledge when I'm in hyperdrive.

i have voted yes for illegal for the reason that i have had a few very good experiences. One of which was this year on magic mushrooms. I took a very low dose and found i was able to relax for the first time in over a year. My wife said, "welcome home".


Anyway, aside from that, I have used other drugs in a very bad way. I smoked cannabis for years. I drank for years. i still do battle with the ciggies like!

The drinking does not help. The pot did a bit but i overdid it.

I answer no because alcohol is legal. There was a period of time that I ABUSED alcohol to to easy the pain and to sleep. At the time it was the only comfort I could find. My alcohol use caused more problems. People in my condition should not drink!. Well I got the help I needed and stopped drinking. The pain is still there, but I dont have the problems I created when drinking.

Yes. Bags of dope, with hash, opium, morphine... I cycled off and on for years. Almost OD'd a few times. Poly drug used like crazy. Of course, drank booze like water--it didn't count, in my mind, because I considered myself a drug addict, not an alcoholic. Boy, was I surprised when I learned I was both! Sometimes marijuana helped, but often, the other drugs just made it worse.