CARROLL COUNTY, Md. — For Marine Corps veteran Rick Glass, coming home from war brought a different kind of battle.
Glass served in the Marines from 2001 to 2005, including two deployments to Iraq. He says his struggles with alcohol began before his military service, but after returning home, his drinking changed.
“After I got back from my two deployments, I noticed my drinking looked a lot different. The volume increased, drinking a lot more by myself. I started really noticing the negative impact on my life,” Glass said.
Glass says he went through three rehabilitation programs before getting sober in 2017, after his third DUI.
During that period, he also struggled with anxiety, trouble sleeping and symptoms associated with PTSD. Glass says cannabis was not initially recommended to him by a doctor. Instead, he began exploring it on his own after feeling other approaches had not worked for him.
“I truly found the cannabis plant out of desperation. I was not a cannabis consumer growing up. I judged people who use cannabis in all honesty,” Glass said.
Glass says cannabis became an important part of his personal recovery. He has now gone more than nine years without alcohol.
His experience eventually led him to run Canna Cares, a Carroll County nonprofit focused on cannabis education and community outreach.
Glass says the organization works to help people better understand cannabis before making decisions about whether to use it. He is also clear that he is not a medical professional.
“One thing I'm very transparent about is I am not a medical professional. I try to really provide resources,” Glass said.
While Glass believes cannabis helped him, medical researchers caution that an individual experience is different from evidence showing that a treatment is safe and effective for a broader population.
Dr. David Gorelick, a psychiatrist, physician and cannabis researcher who spoke with WMAR as an independent scientist, says many veterans report positive experiences with cannabis. However, he says controlled clinical research has not established cannabis as an effective treatment for PTSD.
“I'm currently aware of only three relatively small trials, and they do not show any benefit of the cannabis product over placebo, meaning inactive compound in the treatment of PTSD,” Gorelick said.
Gorelick says there is also little scientific evidence supporting cannabis as a treatment for alcohol use disorder. He recommends patients first discuss established treatment options with qualified medical professionals.
Both Glass and Gorelick acknowledge that cannabis comes with risks.
Glass says cannabis use disorder and other cannabis-related health problems are real and encourages people to weigh potential risks and benefits.
Gorelick says cannabis is far less likely to cause a fatal medical overdose than substances such as opioids or alcohol, but that does not make it harmless.
“Cannabis intoxication still disturbs your thinking, your motor control, so there's still a risk of automobile accidents and doing something inappropriate like stepping out into traffic. So again, not completely safe,” Gorelick said.
For Glass, his story is not about telling every veteran to follow the same path he did. He says it is about encouraging veterans who are struggling to keep looking for help and learn about the resources available to them.
“I just want veterans to understand that there are a lot of options. All you have to do is reach out to some really good leaders in your community and find out how we can find you some help,” Glass said.
Gorelick recommends veterans considering cannabis for PTSD, alcohol-related problems or other health concerns first speak with a qualified healthcare professional about treatments that have been studied for safety and effectiveness.
For more information and resources on PTSD, substance use, cannabis and suicide prevention, visit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
