“Do Veterans, with PTSD, Receive Benefit from Medical Cannabis?” - Questions a National Study of 10,000 Veterans
Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) July 04, 2014 -- It is the opinion of the study group* that when the Veterans Health Administration (the “VA”) re-establishes effective medical programs, the United States will begin, as a Nation, to honor its commitment to the Veteran community. And further it is the opinion of the study group that currently, the V.A. is failing the Veterans as evidenced by the hourly rate of Veteran suicides.
(CNN, November 14, 2013, 12:08 p.m., http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/us/22-veteran-suicides-a-day/index.html)
Acting Secretary Sloan D. Gibson has stepped into an alarming situation where the Administration has failed (according to the study group) to provide adequate oversight of, or solutions to, the debacle the V.A. is calling a premier healthcare system – especially for those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (White House, Office of the Press Secretary, June 27, 2014, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/27/readout-president-s-meeting-acting-veterans-affairs-secretary-sloan-gi-0 )
Accompanying the “appointment book cooking,” which is so prominent in the news these days (Time, June 9, 2014, http://time.com/2850879/va-appointment-delays-keep-getting-worse/), the VA has re-instituted failed treatment programs for PTSD (NBC News, June 20, 2014, 9:00 a.m., http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dod-va-cant-prove-their-ptsd-care-working-study-claims-n136371 ). In the 1990’s, the V.A. learned their specialized inpatient programs were ineffective, and closed them down only to reinstitute them in the last decade (NBC News, June 20, 2014, 9:00 a.m., http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dod-va-cant-prove-their-ptsd-care-working-study-claims-n136371 ) and according to the study group it may have been to appease the public outcry for effective treatment. That doesn’t make sense. The study group asks, "Why are we funding ineffective programs?"
And so, in the study group's opinion, a suffering Veteran, maybe one in anyone's family, commits suicide about every hour because the V.A., and the U.S. as a Nation, has failed to keep their part of the deal – to care for Veteran's wounds. Some Americans cannot tolerate this situation.
The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs spend unbelievably large sums every year to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (NBC News, June 20, 2014, 9:00 a.m., http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dod-va-cant-prove-their-ptsd-care-working-study-claims-n136371). Collectively they spent $3.294 billion in 2012. But does the treatment help? According to a mandated Congressional report neither the Pentagon nor the VA have a clue about the situation. ( NBC News, June 20, 2014, 9:00 a.m., http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dod-va-cant-prove-their-ptsd-care-working-study-claims-n136371 )
Adding to the distress and hopelessness Veterans are experiencing, research is impeded or disallowed by the Administration’s bureaucracy. There is a well- established public outcry over a history of “paid for study outcomes” (for “marijuana” research) that are academic nonsense ( Business Insider, August 12, 2013, 4:01 p.m., http://www.businessinsider.com/sanjay-gupta-changed-his-mind-on-weed-2014-4). As recently as this week another promising study, for Veterans suffering from PTSD utilizing Medical Cannabis for treatment, by Dr. Sue Sisley, of the University of Arizona, was blocked by her school administration for advocating research about Medical Cannabis. Dr. Sisley, a heroic academic pioneer, lost her position at the University for advocating the research of a promising treatment option
(Arizona Capitol Times, July 1, 2014, 1:31 p.m., http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2014/07/01/uofa-medical-marijuana-researcher-sue-sisley-fired-claims-political-motivation/)
Enter Enigami Systems, Inc. owner of a number of patent pending technologies they intend to use to address this through a subsidiary, Enigami Medical Cannabis, LLC.
Enigami Systems, Inc. commercial products help Patients determine the appropriate medical products for effective treatment. Their online application helps a patient determine the relationship of “mainstream medications”, medical cannabis products, and “over the counter products” - and the conditions they are seeking relief from. Currently the knowledge of how effective these interventions are, alone, or in unison, is absent from the medical field.
So, Enigami Medical Cannabis, LLC was formed with an eye to support the Veterans and the PTSD issue. Enigami’s commercial product was tailored to a national study, “Veterans, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Medical Cannabis”, put together by a number of clinicians and Veterans advocates.
Harborside Health Center, the largest Medical Cannabis dispensary in the U.S., located in California, and seen on television’s “Weed Wars”, is listed as an Advisor to promote the study. Though Enigami is providing over $300,000.00 in technology services the study still seeks minimal administrative funding.
The introductory website is: http://www.vetptsdstudy.org and the Study Login/Signup is: https://study.vetptsdstudy.org
The study is free for qualified Veterans who will notice only the absolute minimum of personally identifying information being requested for their personal health records. These records constitute the database for the eighteen (18) month long study. In this study, a Veteran registers, then notes the symptoms of PTSD he/she wishes to track, and decides how often email notices are to be sent as a reminder to record symptom status and medication. This information is translated into an easy to read graph showing treatment progress so that the study participant may determine the best medication approach for his or her care. The record is the personal property of the Veteran study participant with the exception of the aggregate de-identified information which will serve as the answer to the study question, “Do Veterans, with PTSD, derive any treatment benefit from the use of Medical Cannabis?” These personal health records are HIPAA compliant. HIPAA Privacy Rules are the national standards to protect individual’s privacy. The study group has taken additional security measures, as noted on the website security notices. As in all legitimate scientific studies, the project underwent, and will undergo, review by an Institutional Review Board.
The study begins registration and participation on July 4th in honor of the Veterans. At the conclusion of the study the aggregate results will be interpreted and submitted to a professional journal for publication.
The Veterans Health Administration, Congressional leadership, and the Administration will be notified of the de-identified study findings.
*The principals in the study are Patients Out of Time, a national Veteran advocacy organization (Mary Lynn Mathre, RN, MSN, former Lt. in U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, President Al Byrne, LCdr, retired, U.S. Navy, COO), Enigami Medical Cannabis, LLC (Clifton D. Croan, MA, LPC, DAPA, FAPA, BCPC, DMAPA, William F. Graf, JD), Health Solutions of Arizona, Inc. (Gary D. Miller, DBH, LMSW, CEO), and Global Health & Hygiene Solutions, LLC (Uma Dhanabalan, MD MPH FAAFP, Founder and CEO).
Clifton D. Croan, MA, LPC, DAPA, FAPA, BCPC, DMAPA, Enigami Systems, Inc., http://www.vetptsdstudy.org, +1 (720) 272-6149, [email protected]
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