The wounds of war are many, and it’s a sad truth that they can haunt veterans long after the body has healed.
Josh Biddix, a veteran who saw combat in Iraq, shed some light on the long recovery process after combat injuries as he has begun advocating for a medical marijuana law in North Carolina.
“I have personally looked down the barrel of my own service weapon,” he said in a WRAL report. “The neurologist at the VA put me on some muscle relaxers they use for Parkinson's and ALS patients, that type of stuff. And I seriously could not get out of the bed. Like it was just, you're just laying there, staring at the ceiling. That's just not worth it.”
After years of treatment to help him manage the physical pain, one doctor suggested that he try cannabis. That was the solution in his case, but in North Carolina, using marijuana to relieve pain is still a misdemeanor. Biddix would like to see that change.
“When you have a severe flare-up, or you're having just a bad day with, you know, your mood and temper, which is all related to [post-traumatic stress], it can give you that relief to kind of give your mind time to reset, your body reset, and you're back to fully functional within just, no time really,” he said, adding that it carries less debilitating side effects that are often associated with high-grade pain killers.
“There'd be days, just … almost tears, just hurting, and nothing you could do,” he said. “I’ll be danged if I’m going to lie around and just suffer. Days where you can barely leave the house or have to use a cane to walk to the mailbox.”
Biddix was one of several veterans to testify in favor of Senate Bill 711, which the Senate tentatively approved Thursday by a vote of 35-10.
“We talk about never leaving a fallen comrade,” State Sen. Kirk deViere, D-Cumberland and a veteran, said in the report. “We’ve left many military people that suffer from PTSD, many that we heard—warriors—that came before us in committee meetings, that talked about the pain that they had. And this is one way that we can help them.”
State Sen. Kathy Harrington, R-Gaston, said the stories that the veterans shared were moving enough to sway some votes.
“I've heard some of the most compelling and passionate testimony that I've ever heard in committee over the Compassionate Care Act from veterans and former law enforcement who suffer from PTSD,” Harrington said. “I was brought to tears in one committee about a year ago from some of the most painful and difficult testimony I've ever listened to.”
Biddix wants the Legislature to pass the “long overdue” measure.
“It's a common-sense issue. It's a compassion issue. It's an empathy issue,” Biddix said. “We're not talking about recreational. We're talking about people that are going to be suffering one way or another.”
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