marijuana leaves

About 1000 veterans (and a few people who weren’t) lined up outside a hotel in Colorado Springs to receive free marijuana last weekend, according to The Coloradoan. Participants reportedly were given a bag of items that included cannabis oil, an edible chocolate bar and seeds to grow plants. There was a suggested donation of $20 at the door, with the event focused on reaching soldiers and others with special needs.

The event was all thanks to Roger Martin, who founded Operation Grow 4 Vets last February and announced its formation in May after accumulating a list of veterans who would be interested in getting free marijuana to help with their combat-related injuries, including post traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain injuries.  Martin said he created  the organization to help other veterans; he knows what they are going through. He has found medical marijuana to be therapeutic for his health problems.

“I ingest some sort of edible marijuana every night,.” he told reporters.  “That allows me to sleep, for my pain level to be low enough, so I can sleep four or five hours a night.  If I didn’t do that, then it might be an hour or two if I’m lucky.”

Earlier this month, in Denver, a crowd of 500 veterans lined up for a similar giveaway.

The event was very successful; people showed up, and growers supported the community. Because Colorado law  doesn’t allow private labs to test the potency of marijuana for families treating children, he also provided testing kits for families at the event. He also wants to help change Veterans Adminsitration policies to make medical marijuana available to those who have served.

The Grow4Vets website has a specific mission in mind for helping veterans with combat-related injuries, who often fall between the cracks within the Veteran’s Administration and are forced to cope with combat-relate stress such as traumatic brain injury.  Grow4Vets says on their website that an “ever increasing number of medical studies have shown that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for pain, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) , and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Despite this fact, some people maintain the belief that marijuana is nothing more than a dangerous drug. ”

They hope to make marijuana available to suffering veterans, with an overall goal of reducing the staggering number of veterans who die from suicide and prescription drug overdoses. They also work provide veterans with the knowledge and resources necessary to obtain or grow their own marijuana for treatment of their medical conditions.

By Hypatia Livingston

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."Writer, thinker, researcher, philosopher.

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