This week, the American Legion sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs asking for federal assistance in supporting an FDA-approved research study on cannabis and PTSD. The study is being conducted at the Scottsdale Research Institute in Arizona, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The study is a placebo-controlled, triple-blind study to determine the effectiveness of four different potencies of smoked cannabis in 76 veterans suffering from PTSD. Phase one of the trial is almost complete, and researchers must now screen thousands of veterans to enroll an additional 50 subjects for the next phase of research. To accomplish this, the researchers require the assistance of the Phoenix VA hospital, which so far has refused to cooperate.
In August, lead researcher Dr. Sue Sisley wrote a letter to the American Legion asking for their assistance. “We will not be able to achieve this without your help,” Sisley wrote. “There is no way we’ll be able to complete this study without the Phoenix VA hospital opening their doors to us. I would urge you to consider endorsing the study as an organization,…