Cannabis and PTSD: An Interview with Cody Queen

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview Cody Queen, a veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and earned two purple hearts during his time over there. During his time overseas, Cody was hit with an IED, which left him suffering from chronic pain due to his injuries. He also now endures PTSD in the form of flashbacks.

Cody eventually turned to cannabis as an alternative to all the pills and medications the doctors prescribed him. He quickly discovered how effective cannabis was at easing his chronic pain as well as his flashbacks, and decided he would grow his own supply of medicine at home.

The Discovery

When Cody was first diagnosed with PTSD and other injuries, the doctors immediately wanted to put him on a whole slew of medications. Some were painkillers for the bodily pain, others were heavy anti-depressants for the flashbacks that really changed his personality.

Cody was at first hesitant to this idea of following the doctor's orders, but he went along with it anyways. From the very beginning, the meds made him feel sick to his stomach and extremely depressed. They helped some with the pain and slightly with the flashbacks, but the side effects were not worth the minimal relief.

That’s when Cody decided to try out medical marijuana, as there were tons of articles and news stories discussing its role in helping PTSD patients. There was even helpful information regarding the use of medical cannabis for PTSD right on the official government website!

After smoking for the very first time, Cody received significant relief from his pain, and found that smoking cannabis helped tremendously with minimizing his flashbacks. If Cody feels a flashback coming on or starts feeling an intense amount of pain, all he has to do is take a hit or two from his bubbler and he is back to normal.

Once he felt comfortable with using cannabis, Cody dropped the prescription medications and went straight on the medical marijuana regimen.

Time to Grow

Once completely off the medications, Cody was feeling as good as he had felt since being back from overseas. He had minimized his pain and PTSD episodes, and was finally starting to feel like his normal self again. The only issue was that the price of medical cannabis in his area was extremely high, so he couldn't afford to continually buy enough for his needs.

Cody decided to fix this problem by growing his own supply at home. What's great about growing at home is the start-up cost is pretty minimal, and so is the electricity cost if you aren’t doing a huge grow.

"It's the best hobby in the world. If you want a real hobby, grow marijuana," he says.

Usually after one harvest, the supplies have paid for themselves and then some! Cody has an indoor grow tent with two autoflowers currently growing in it, and he finds that growing indoors where he lives is most convenient due to the weather. Right now he is growing heavy indica Northern Lights and has been growing his own for about a year now.

Spread the Word

Cody shared his story with me in hopes of helping other veterans who are in the same position he was once in. Before having medical marijuana in his life, Cody felt completely helpless, like he was out of solutions.

Unfortunately, there are thousands of veterans in that exact same situation who end up losing their lives to suicide. But with these new discoveries on the medicinal benefits of marijuana, it is possible to change that.

Now that it is known this miracle drug can help, it is time to make sure cannabis is easily available to all of our veterans who need it. Whether that is highly discounted rates at local dispensaries, or easy access to supplies for growing at home, it needs to be done ASAP.

Cody highly recommends veterans start out by trying to grow their own, as he says the act of growing itself is extremely calming and helpful for his symptoms.

"It's the best hobby in the world. If you want a real hobby, grow marijuana," he says.