Smoking Pot is Good for Soldiers

In Vietnam, a lot of soldiers smoked marijuana, we assumed in order to make the trauma of war easier to take. Now we know another reason: In a study performed on rats, the researchers found that marijuana does not erase the traumatic experience, but only the development of post-trauma symptoms. Psychologist Irit Akirav says, “We found that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ during which administering synthetic marijuana helps deal with symptoms simulating PTSD in rats."

If Marijuana administration after experiencing a traumatic event blocks the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms in rats, it might do the same for humans, and since PTSD is one of the major problems that our soldiers come home with, making smoking pot should be LEGAL in the military.

In the first part of the study, researchers exposed a group of rats to extreme stress, and observed that the rats did indeed display symptoms resembling PTSD in humans, such as an enhanced startle reflex and an impaired ability to learn. The rats were then divided into four groups. One was given no marijuana at all; the second was given a marijuana injection two hours after being exposed to a traumatic event; the third group after 24 hours and the fourth group after 48 hours. A week later, the researchers examined the rats and found that the group that had not been administered marijuana and the group that got the injection 48 hours after experiencing trauma continued to display PTSD symptoms as well as a high level of anxiety. Because the human life span is significantly longer than that of rats, one could assume that this window of time would be longer for humans.

Akirav says, "This indicates that the marijuana did not erase the experience of the trauma, but that it specifically prevented the development of post-trauma symptoms." So astronauts should drink in space and soldiers should smoke pot in war–maybe the 60’s never went away, after all! We don’t know about the 60’s, but we DO KNOW that the 90’s never went away. When the Master of the Key knocked on Whitley’s hotel room door in 1998, he gave him all kinds of information about the future and in the NEW edition of The Key, Whitley has written a foreword that shows how all of these predictions came TRUE! (NOTE: Today is the LAST DAY to use coupon 2012 to get $3 off our beautiful crop circle calendar). You can get a copy of The Key from the Whitley Strieber Collection (and if you buy it from us, it comes with an autographed bookplate designed by Whitley!)