I’m going to preface this article with a short introduction. Over the past few years, the national dialogue on marijuana has shifted significantly and particularly for CBD. While still banned for use with DoD and by many other agencies, CBD has offered relief for several complaints such as PTSD.
Some swear by its properties while others brush it off as a placebo. Let’s use this testimony by my friend and former SEAL Will Branum to open a respectful dialogue. And yes, Will believes CBD so much, he founded a company.
-Eric Graves
The transition from military to civilian life was the toughest military mission I had ever been on. I went from being surrounded by a TEAM of World Class Professionals who challenged me every day to NO TEAM, NO PURPOSE, and NO MISSION.
I’ve spent my entire adult life in the military and 23 of those 26 years as a Navy SEAL. As a SEAL, every morning I woke up, knew what I was going to do and with whom I would do it. I was surrounded by a badass team with a badass mission. And then in the summer of 2018, it was gone.
My nightly routine consisted of just one glass of Vodka on the rocks to turn off the noise in my head. One glass turned into another, and another and so on. Eventually the noise would reduce enough for me to go to sleep. This habit started before my retirement, but had definitely intensified after I retired. I had to drink myself into a drunken stupor to quiet my mind, slow down, and be able to rest.
I had heard of CBD Oil while I was on active duty but wasn’t about to risk putting my final years in the military or my Top Secret Security Clearance in jeopardy. I am also a child of Nancy Reagan’s War on Drugs, “Just Say No!” Campaign, so I was hesitant to try it. A year after my retirement, I was in Virginia and had lunch with a former SEAL Team mentor. I told him about my interest in CBD and discussed purchasing it while I was in town. I was still unfamiliar with its benefits but was curious to know more. Coincidentally he owned some and gave me a bottle.
That night I noticed that I slept a little better and woke up a little pissed off as I had in the previous months. Over the next 30 days, with continued use of the CBD Oil, I felt small increments of improvement in my attitude as well as unexpected improvements in pain management. Some of the sharp stabbing pain I had been experiencing began to decrease in intensity and become more dull. Additionally, when I ran out of CBD Oil, much of the pain and ailments and my internal anger started to resurface.
CBD helped me turn off the anxiety and noise. To illustrate, we know that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and, likewise, I often felt like I was living at 210, just under my boiling point. Taking CBD helped bring down that internal emotional temperature; 208, 205, 200. It helped me get out of the RED ZONE that I was living in and moved me into something closer to ORANGE or YELLOW, a much more relaxed mental and emotional state. That new headspace allowed me to practice better self-talk so I could work on myself, and simultaneously start to quiet the noise in my head without the need for alcohol. CBD isn’t a magical cure-all, but it is an essential tool in my tool box.
CBD had such a life changing effect on me that I started my own CBD Company to share the highest quality CBD available to Veterans and First Responders. Naked Warrior Recovery’s mission is to help you recover from Mental and Physical Trauma, no matter how big or small.
How CBD works: CBD is a non-psychoactive (you don’t get high) molecule from the Hemp Plant. It has been shown to have many medicinal effects on all mammals. CBD supports the Endocannabinoid System, a giant neuro receptor connected to every other system in the body (ie. Central Nerves System, Digestive System, Immune System, Respiratory System, etc.).
The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is supported by endogenous cannabinoids that all mammals create. Sometimes the body does not produce enough natural cannabinoids to support the ECS. CBD works like a multivitamin to support the ECS to help bring it back into balance. When the ECS is in balance, it helps bring the other systems into balance. A few other benefits that have been observed from CBD use are reduced chronic inflammation, elliptic seizures, pain, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, acne, and Parkinson’s.
There is still a lot that to be learned about this natural remedy, but the future looks bright! There are studies coming out daily on PUBMED about CBD and the Endocannabinoid System.
For more information on CBD go to www.nw-recovery.com.
Remember that CBD and/or other drugs are just suppressants of the symptoms, the underlying issue is not being treated. It does not help to get you on another opioid for the rest of your life.
CBD is not an opioid
This is exactly what I was thinking. In this case CDB oil has just replaced vodka. Why not turn to the VA or any of the hundreds of private support groups for PTSD?
You clearly seem not to know that Cannabinoids are regulators in your body like hormones are. Your body produce them, for example as its own anti inflammatory to help the wound healing process, or for protecting neuronal cells, and it also helps “forgetting” in a psychological manner (PTSD). Sometimes, there is no underlying issue like you imagine it – the source can be some not regular event, and there are cases that need Cannabinoid treatment for such events. You wouldnt tell any medical staff to stop the blood infusion, if you have a massive bleeding caused by an open wound – even if your body should be able to take care of its own blood cell supply on a regular basis, sometimes your body is not as quick as the external source is ;o)
CBD may potentially have benefits for PTSD, but this testimony suggests trading one substance addiction for another. Hopefully the CBD in this case is less harmful than the original choice. I tried it in varying strengths and experienced nothing. Other issues like “what is really in this bottle I’m paying lots of money for?” cast further doubts for me. The market is flooded with products of dubious origin rebranded with a custom branded sticker and a “testimonial”, so it’s hard to trust.
You are right. The market is flooded and its hard to know who and what to trust. When I first started researching the industry I found that it was incredibly crooked and a lot of people were just out to make a quick buck. The FDA has done many spot-checks on hundreds of brands and found that many products did not have CBD, were high in THC, had high levels of pesticides and heavy metals. My recommendation is don’t buy any CBD product that does not test every batch and have those test results on their site and also have a QR code on the packaging that will take you to the 3rd party testing results. It is also true that some people do not feel a benefit from using CBD.
The Sheriff’s office did a spot check of CBD oils, in a shop in my town, and found several of the brands had illegal amounts of THC in them. They were all removed from the store and destroyed.
I cannot and do not use CBD oil due to my current job (as the intro notes as to why). However, my mother uses it for joint pain and claims it helps. To me, it seems like an extremely low risk thing to try if you’re suffering from something and can give this a shot.
Got out of the corps as a grunt with all sorts of issues. Problem is with a cleared defense job you STILL can’t use CBD. Can’t wait to transfer into tech so I can take advantage of it. For the record I’m pro-marijuana having never smoked it. I also don’t plan on smoking it.
You absolutly can use CBD if it is not contaminated with other cannabinoids. Delta 8 CBD can be synthesized with 100% purity. The metabolic products from CBD are not hitting any metabolic analyzes for Delta 9 THC (Delta 11 THC COOH)! CBD is contained in A LOT of foods as some new research study just released 2020 indicates: It is even in tomatos. What you dont want, is to use CBD that has a natural origin, like Oils made from Hemp. They will always contain other cannabinoids, and they will always contain some kind of THC, be it Delta 8 or Delta 9.
What brands do you recommend that won’t make me pop on a test?
http://www.nw-recovery.com
Tried to access from .mil computer and lol:
You have attempted to access a blocked website. Access to this website has been blocked for operational reasons by the DOD Enterprise-Level Protection System.
Category: abused-drugs
URL: http://www.nw-recovery.com/
I also do some contract work for the GOV and work in a SCIF. I feel your pain not being able to access my own website. Can’t win em all! LOL!
I can’t advertise on FaceBook either. (Illegal Substance)…
You should look for CBD as crystals, they are an easy way to have a stable source no matter by what supplier.
Can this make you test positive on an urinalysis test?
Second, why can’t the DoD see that this is not only a better alternative than psychotropic, anti-depressants and serotonin enhancing drugs? It’s utterly ridiculous that something natural is no where in the logic or common sense on how we do anything, anymore. F…Big pharma and those suckling at the FDA teet!
Could it? Yes. Should it? no. Theoretically it has no or such little THC that it doesn’t register. But there’s a reason it’s still not allowed in the military as the author alludes. The industry is completely unregulated so you never know exactly what you’re getting.
If you’re in the military, it’s absolutely not worth losing your job over.
No one can legally tell you that you will not fail a drug test if you take CBD… I believe CBD was originally banned by the SECDEF because guys were failing drug tests because said they were using “CBD”. See my comments above about how dirty the industry was…and still is to some degree… However, there is legislation in congress in the NDAA about allowing military members to use “hemp products” that include CBD.
I wouldn’t count on the government to issue you a bottle of CBD for PTSD or anything else, however, I do expect CBD to officially become a dietary supplement in 2021 in which case it would start to be regulated by the FDA.
I’m not an expert but I think moreso than DoD is the fact that under federal law, marijuana & cannabis are schedule I drugs, meaning “no clinical value”, and since CBD is associated with that (unfairly? I’m not up on this topic enough to know…) the government is SUPER gun shy about it.
I think federal law enforcement is in exactly same boat as military with respect to this.
A shot of vodka at night? Thats probably most of us on the board…
No sir…3-4 glasses of vodka a night
375-400ml a night for me. I can’t stand the Rx I was given, they make me sick, still wake up after only 3-4hrs of sleep. Medical and Behavior Health are shitty where I am stationed. I only have four years left and it’s killing me. Haven’t been happy in my career in eight years. Fuck the DoD and the idiots in “leadership” of the USN.
I dont know if Kratom is a legal substance in your place – but in Germany it is legal as regular food in any grocery store. New research indicates that Kratom got the longest lasting opiod of all: 36 hours! So instead of the classical Oxycodon Therapie, where you take your dose every 12 hours, with Kratom you would only need it once a day, and you could sleep threw! It is super cheap also: 100g of dried Kratom leaves are less than 10USD; and a small dose is around 2g/day and a high dose around 7g/day. Super cheap as you see.
I’m a grey beard and was hard on my body for most of my life. Shoulder pain got so bad I couldn’t sleep. A friend talked this doubter into trying CBD oil. I used it twice a day for a week and the pain went away. Now just the occasional follow up application is all I need. I also have arthritis in some my fingers and a herniated disc in my neck that acts up from time to time. CBD oil manages that pain also. Usually with just a couple of applications at the onset of pain.
THAT’S AWESOME!!!
If it gets you off hard drinking then good, snake oil or otherwise.
I found for my post-trauma issues certain real drugs with definite effects have helped a lot.
“Just say know” it should be.
I would strongly recommend regular monitoring of your liver enzymes if you choose to use any CBD products.
why?
Ample scientific evidence exists that shows use of CBD based products can cause liver toxicity, hence the need for regular (monthly) monitoring of liver enzymes. It’s a simple blood test that can be done by a med tech at any doctor’s office or clinic.
(Notice I didn’t offer any negative opinion of CBD based products).
It is true that there is some scientific evidence that CBD may cause some liver toxicity. However, in those tests done on rats and the amount of CBD isolate given would be equivalent to taking approximately 1500 mg of CBD everyday. That would run you close to $120 a day of CBD. Totally possible but highly unlikely in long term use. Using substances like ibuprofen or a glass or two of wine a night create a higher reaction from the liver than moderate amounts of CBD.
May you link to the source please? This is very interesting and new to me. Im in Europe, and get prescribed THC (400mg) and CBD (200mg) daily as pain and tinnitus treatment. I will most likely need this to the rest of my life. I always considered THC and CBD as the less harmful out of all drugs, and CBD wasnt on any “alert” state, because it is considered as regular Food in Germany (its not even a supplement, it is unregulated since the “ever”, its popular since 1980) – so any updates on this is very interesting? Thanks ahead
By the way: 100mg of CBD should not cost anything more than 2USD, from a reputable, tested source (not some Chinese stuff). In Europe, you get 1000mg for around 15€ (18USD), made in Czech, Austria, Germany, Switzerland – by commercial, goverment regulated and oversean companys. With heavy testing on plasticizes, fungi, purity.
That should be part of your normal physical every year whether you take anything or not. Would you recommend the same thing to a heavy drinker or are you just being prejudiced?
Why is it that the military pays hands of thousands if not millions of dollars to train us to be war fighters yet they don’t drop 2¢ for us when we discharge. I personally had a stellate ganglion block. It did wonders. The only problem is that I have a very hard time showing emotion on anything. But it works. And as a guy who was using alcohol just as the writer. I no longer need that drink. Every once in awhile I will have a beer. But it’s no longer out of necessity.
I was raised in a very very drug’s are bad environment. Never smoked a joint when I was younger. When Marijuana became legal in Canada and then the military was allowed to use it I gave it a try. Didn’t care for smoking and sure edibles are fun.
What I did see great relief from was a topical cbd cream after my hip surgery. I was getting really bad muscle cramps in the leg that had the operation. I tried massaging a535, Voltaren and a few others into it. A friend got me a cbd rub and despite my skeptical outlook on it it really helped a ton.
Not only that but I have seen people able to deal with high levels of anxiety especially at night using cbd. I would love to see it made legal in the states and researched more heavily.