From Lester Grinspoon re: Cannabis & Bipolar Disorder

I just received this e-mail which I find most interesting, and not simply because it confirms my view that cannabis can be helpful to those with bipolar disorder, but as well because this man who is apparently not “educated,” is able to write so competently about the subject and because he has, on his own, discovered that a high CBD strain is probably more useful than strains dominated by THC.

I have long been a fan of your straightforward, honest approach in regards to Cannabis use for the mentally ill, and have even included your article on the anecdotal evidence for Cannabis use for Bipolar Disorder, in a petition to include Bipolar Disorder or Psychotic Disorders on the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program’s list of ‘debilitating’ medical conditions. I have submitted two such petitions (the most recent, April 18th 2012) and both times have been denied access to the medicine that has changed my life and allowed me to live non-psychotically and conventional medicine free. The board continuously refers to the ‘psychotogenic’ properties of THC, and completely ignores the very real therapeutic properties (anti- psychotic properties and anxiolytic properties) of CBD. As if the risk of continuing psychosis, or early psychosis, is worse a risk than the diseases developed from conventional pharmaceuticals available today (Obesity, Diabetes, Movement Disorders, etc.).

The submission I would like you to consider, is the product, in part of psychiatric abuses I feel I have endured since my first psychotic break in 2005. To that end it may read as anti-psychiatry, and I sincerely mean no disrespect to you or to the ethical psychiatrists and mental healthcare professionals, who are willing to consider Cannabis as a very real therapeutic agent in helping those suffering mental disorder. However, I am certain that the psychiatrists I have encountered during this time (2005 to 2009, 4 acute psychotic episodes) would to this day, despite my lack of psychosis for the last two years, while using CBD rich Cannabis strains as my sole medicine (2010 to present), would insist that I discontinue Cannabis use, as an unacceptable risk to my mental health, and consider lifelong use of substances that will without a doubt shorten my life, and make that shorter life one filled with physical discomfort and low self-esteem, knowing I am ingesting the drugs of the powers that be (for the financial gain of the powers that be), rather than those that were given to me and others suffering, by I believe, some cosmic genius. Thank you for your time! And for the truth you seek in regards to Cannabis!

Sincerely,
Miles A. Houser

P.S. You are more than welcome to use my name. I am male, 27 years old, and live currently in the state of New Mexico. I am an outdoor laborer thus far by trade, though have been on SSDI since 2008 or so. I have dreams of finally, now that my psychosis has been tempered, returning to school and pursuing the herbal sciences and eventually Naturopathy. I can reached by email at: [email protected].

Here’s a pdf of Houser’s “CBD Manifesto,” which was also sent to Project CBD.