I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
New Mexico is the only state in the nation that explicitly qualifies post traumatic stress disorder for medical marijuana, according to the Associated Press, although California pretty much allows marijuana for “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” And because PTSD patients comprise the largest subset of New Mexico’s medical marijuana patients, the Veterans Affairs has a “conundrum” on its hands since the drug is still illegal under federal rules.
While New Mexico’s VA hospital doesn’t allow its doctors to prescribe the drug, it does allow them to tell patients they may seek a recommendation from outside the VA system. And, as The Independent reported previously, it does not consider patients in drug treatment programs who test “hot” for marijuana to be in relapse if they have a state license to use the drug.
One New Mexico physician who has filled out a number of recommendation forms for PTSD is Dr. Eve Elting, in Truth or Consequences. Elting sees people who aren’t regular patients, and about a quarter of those want medical marijuana for PTSD, she told the AP:
Given their inability to get medical marijuana from the VA, New Mexico veterans are finding their own go-to physicians, including Dr. Eve Elting in the central part of the state.
“I have guys coming to see me from all over the state, five or six hours’ drive, just to be legal,” said Elting, of Truth or Consequences. “It’s bad enough they have something that makes life so challenging. On top of that they’re discriminated against, made to feel like they’re doing something wrong.”
Elting said veterans hear about her by word of mouth since she will see people who aren’t regular patients. About a quarter of those who come to her want medical marijuana for PTSD. One day she saw eight veterans — five for PTSD.
