Can Cannabis Help Those Struggling with the COVID pandemic?

Ever since the global covid-19 pandemic set off, the sad reality is that the rate of veteran suicides has risen this 2020.

It all became too much, losing their jobs, feeling anxious over catching the disease, struggling financially, family tension, social isolation, and many more could be the trigger for those dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, one of the most common causes for suicides among veterans. Even more, today’s context is also dangerous for producing the symptoms of PTSD on those who would usually not experience them.

Although this is a sad reality we have to face, the truth is, it is yet understandable for people to struggle when living in such complicated times, even those who were completely healthy before the pandemic started struggling too at some point of this seem-to-be eternal year.

The Department of Defense predicts that there was a 3.6% increase in military suicides this year, while the U.S. Army told the Associated Press that they had already seen an increase of 20 percent in their branch’s suicides this year.

Nevertheless, there are still an amount of surviving soldiers left. Those who want to prioritize their mental health in this challenging time. And while some may use conventional diseases to cope with their disorder, now that marijuana has been legalized in two more of the American states, there is also a big group turning to medical marijuana as their treatment of choice for alleviating PTSD.

Cannabis is a truly loyal substance in the medical field. Ever since the world gave green light to more research into the field, all we’ve heard is flowers from it, flowers meaning good things. Two already well-known traits of marijuana are its anxiety relief and relaxation properties, doctors and health professionals usually prescribe patients dealing with anxiety, depression, or insomnia with such a substance. Since these are also some of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in veterans, taking some medical cannabis could help to ease their distress. In fact, in those states where cannabis is indeed legal, doctors are already allowed to prescribe medical marijuana for PTSD patients.

Those who have tried using medicinal cannabis for PTSD have found that cannabis effectively helped them ease the intensity of the traumatic flashbacks and/or nightmares. However, this is yet to be researched and tested scientifically.

In some studies, cannabis has shown to slow down the activity of the brain’s amygdala, which is strongly linked to anxiety. When the amygdala is highly active, anxiety tends to be increased as well. Therefore, when taking marijuana, its active compound THC aids in slowing down the activity in said place, allowing the subject to feel more relaxed.

Furthermore, a study showed that cannabis could even be promising in overwriting traumatic memories and diminishing trauma-related anxiety. On this point, we’re still placing our bets on THC, which is responsible for most of the psychoactive effects in marijuana.

If you or a close relative is struggling with PTSD or other mental disorders, perhaps you could try and test the benefits of marijuana for yourself. And don’t worry, there’s no need in getting involved in anything shady or complicated, you could simply buy autoflowering seeds and start growing your medical cannabis for yourself. Just make sure you don’t get them from anywhere random or the results could turn disappointing. Nowadays there are specialized bank seeds companies such as Fast Buds where you could get your seeds and rest peacefully knowing that you won’t face any future issues.