Researchers are looking for veterans living in the Phoenix area to participate in an FDA-approved study to investigate if cannabis is a suitable treatment for PTSD.
Dr. Sue Sisley, one of the few researchers conducting federally sanctioned marijuana studies, is beginning Phase 2 clinical trials of cannabis treatment for PTSD in veterans.
Sisley is seeking subjects who seek the following criteria:
- Military veterans with service-related PTSD.
- Veterans should be located in Phoenix metro area and must be able to come off previous cannabis use prior to starting.
- Veterans need to accommodate weekly follow-up visits at our laboratory located in north Phoenix.
- Ideally seeking veterans who use cannabis irregularly or not at all.
Sisley asks that all interested veterans to send email to arizona@marijuanasites.org
The $2.15 million study received its funding for by the state of Colorado. The research will be conducted by a team of researchers from the Scottsdale Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Colorado and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. It is a two-phase random, placebo-controlled, multisite study that will assess the safety and efficacy of four types of smoked marijuana to manage chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD symptoms.
Sisley, president of Scottsdale Research Institute, has legally obtained federally grown marijuana in order to conduct the ground-breaking research. According to Sisley, it took seven years of fighting red tape and bureaucratic roadblocks in order to get approval.
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In the first phase of the study, subjects will smoke randomly assigned strains of cannabis (including a placebo) for three weeks. Participants will describe their experiences in a journal and then abstain from toking for two weeks. The second phase is a repeat of the first phase. Participants of the study will follow up for six months. The study is expected to take two years to complete.
Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute in Phoenix, said the hypothesis for the study is that cannabis may improve PTSD symptoms in a dose-dependent manner.
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“I have no preconceived notions about the outcome of the study,” she told Stars and Stripes last year. “I’m not pro-cannabis; I am strictly pro-science. I’m actually not a fan of cannabis, and I’ve never tried it personally. I care deeply about our military veterans, and I am determined to find new treatments for PTSD — besides the only two approved medicines on the market, Zoloft and Paxil, which are highly disappointing.
“Nobody is arguing cannabis is a cure for PTSD,” she added. “What we are hoping is that cannabis is alleviating the suffering of PTSD patients and not just masking it. This is a distinction that can only be evaluated through a randomized controlled trial.”
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