How Marijuana Has Impacted My Life

In a distant past, beyond the murky waters of undulating waves,

lay a young Marine on a concrete barracks floor; crippled and inebriated from the six Jägerbombs his fellow comrades just egged him on to drink after the beers had been slammed. Reveille's stiff call brought confusion. "Why am I in my bunk fully clothed with my shoes on"? " We carried you to your bunk PFC" "Why in the hell did you do that"? "Because you blacked out and hit the deck PFC."

We did it again the next night.......

and again the next....

It wasn't programmed into my "brain housing group" to acknowledge alcoholism. When I joined the service it was common place to get hammered after work, and in some aspects, even revered. In my early years I watched reefer madness in school I don't know how many times, and also had it ingrained in me through training that all drugs were bad, and there was zero tolerance for the use of any illicit substances, and marijuana was punishable with the same consequence: Immediate discharge from the Corps. This consequence is still in effect, and is the same for every branch of service.

The Marine Corps embellishes the concept of drinking due to the nature of it's founding. Tun Tavern, a bar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
is traditionally regarded as the site where what would become the United States Marine Corps held its first recruitment drive during the American Revolution.[1] It is also regarded as one of the "birthplaces of Masonic teachings in America."[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tun_Tavern

It's also astonishing that despite any acknowledgment of the potential use of medicinal marijuana for PTSD during this time, the Corps also embellished tobacco products with the highest regard. Why the federal government thought it would be a good idea to push the use of tobacco products to youthful soldiers is another topic altogether.

I felt it to be of importance to reference my experience with the military because not only was it true, but it set me up for failure. This is no statement of excuse. It is pure factual information. Young impressionable men, fresh out of high school go in at a young age, eager to please and serve, do whatever they need to in order to prove their valor, braveness, toughness, and not so quick to be the oddball in any given situation; as doing so is an invitation for hazing. Not to mention the flock mentality that comes with military life. Everything is done as a team. You don't ever want to be the weak link. This causes youth to do things that in most scenarios, they simply would not do.

I did four honorable years of service and was discharged with many life misconceptions, and a monkey on my back. I will not get into the story of how alcohol and drugs destroyed my life in this blog, nor is it my wish to say that anyone is responsible for the path another persons life takes.

During my struggles with addiction, and PTSD I was prescribed many different mood stabilizing medications. Often these medications either did nothing to aid with addiction, or made it worse altogether. It was both counterproductive, and counterintuitive in the sense that the doctors were very close minded in the pleas of many veterans wishes to be prescribed a THC based medication. After many failed trials with the V.A. hospital, I could no longer deal with more of the same thing. Something needed to change.

I decided it was time to face addiction head on and reconstruct my thinking as well as try something that I myself, truly believed would help me.

I've never been one to adopt the principles of A.A. and N.A. It is in my nature to overcome issues myself, through my own spiritual journeys, and conceptualizations. I will never say I have overcome addiction, because addiction is very elusive, and patient, but I will say, marijuana has been a godsend in my personal struggle. It curbs my cravings for alcohol because it lowers my anxiety to a manageable level, as well as substantially lowers my symptoms of PTSD. It completely takes away my insomnia, lowers arthritic pain. I literally could go on and on with the positive side effects I experience with marijuana, but the bottom line is that it is helping me, and it helps many people, with many different ailments.

It's time for the misconceptions to dissipate to a far away place, perhaps in a distant past, beyond the murky waters of undulating waves. Thank you for reading.