New Jersey considers medical marijuana for post-traumatic stress disorder

A bill will soon go before the full New Jersey General Assembly to consider allowing medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is not currently on the state's approved list of

News 12 Staff

Jun 7, 2016, 3:22 AM

Updated 3,017 days ago

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A bill will soon go before the full New Jersey General Assembly to consider allowing medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
PTSD is not currently on the state's approved list of ailments for medicinal marijuana. A bill to include it recently passed an Assembly committee.
Assemblyman Tim Eustace, out of Bergen County, sponsored the bill. Last year, a similar bill passed the General Assembly but stalled in the Senate.
Some New Jersey soldiers who suffer from the disorder say they welcome the legislation. 
Rob Peiffer, of Maywood, served in the army back in 2000. Peiffer was diagnosed with PTSD and also suffers from a nerve issue. He also used to get extreme panic attacks. This January he qualified for medical marijuana and says that it changed his life.
"Even when I get my panic attacks, it almost goes away almost instantly," he says. "It calms down so many different things. I don't shake anymore."
Julio Valentin, the CEO of the Green Leaf Compassion Center dispensary in Montclair, says that he also supports the measure.
"I think things will change. I think across the nation, people realize that it is helping. Not so much for recreational, but strictly medicinal," Valentin says.
The state's Health Department has started a panel to consider requests to expand the list of illnesses that can be treated with medical marijuana.