Colorado Medical Pot Law Poised to Add PTSD as Qualifier

DENVER (AP) — Post-traumatic stress disorder may be added to Colorado’s medical marijuana program — over the Health Department’s objections.

A panel of state lawmakers has scheduled a vote today to give PTSD patients the ability to get a doctor’s recommendation for pot, something many patient advocates have been seeking for more than a decade.

Colorado’s 2000 medical pot law does not name PTSD but says that medical conditions could be added later. However, the state Board of Health has rejected multiple petitions to consider PTSD a condition for which doctors can recommend pot.

The vote Wednesday won’t have any legal effect. But policy decisions by the interim legislative panels usually carry significant weight when the full Legislature meets in January.

Colorado has about 100,000 medical marijuana patients.

Tell the Health Department what you think. Should cannabis be available as a treatment option for PTSD?