Fronteras

A group of nurses is asking the state health department to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of ailments that can be treated with medical marijuana. A similar effort failed last year. The health department considers new petitions every six months. In 2012, the agency did not to approve medical pot for PTSD because it said the research was not convincing enough. Medical experts were also concerned marijuana would lead to further substance abuse in people with traumatic stress, but now the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association will try again.

Josh Miller helped the group write the latest petition.

"A lot of these people with PTSD are veterans. They contract their PTSD while they are fighting for our freedoms back home, and then they return home, and they don’t even have the freedom to chose how to treat their PTSD," Miller said.

 A handful of states, like Oregon and Maine, do give PTSD patients the right to use medical marijuana. Miller said his group’s petition will use research from other countries to prove pot is an effective alternative.