Anecdotal evidence is routinely referred to as “subjective, circumstantial, unreliable, untrustworthy, undependable, and sketchy.” My evidence is hard earned! It is not subjective!
I am a veteran who served this country for 24 years and suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), wrestling with severe anger and violence issues. The descriptions of my symptoms and actions are mine alone. They are not stereotypical of most vets. Most vets I have met have their own issues to deal with. Also, I have access to resources most of them do not. Think about how terrible it must be for them! However, one of the common threads between all of us with PTSD is anger. When I was living with uncontrolled PTSD I was like a walking felony waiting to happen. I believe this is true for many of my honorable brother and sister vets in South Carolina. We can thank the politicians’ and law enforcement’s “anecdotal evidence” about medical cannabis for that.
Five years ago, when my wife and I moved to South Carolina from California, I was forced to stop using medical cannabis due to the laws in this state. I wasn’t sure what would happen to me, but I was determined to follow the law. Within a year of living in South Carolina, I was carrying a handgun under my car seat and an ax handle on my passenger seat. It didn’t seem odd to me at the time. You don’t know you are crazy when you are crazy! You think everyone else is crazy and that just makes you angrier!
You also do crazy things! Without consulting my wife, I spent tens of thousands of dollars having senior politicians and law enforcement officials investigated by firms outside the state. Yes I really did! I was out of control with PTSD at this point. This was not the worst. I threatened my best friend from high school with extreme violence if my name even escaped his lips. Luckily, he was and still is my friend of 47 years.
At my lowest moment, I sat in my car with a Sig Sauer 45 for 4 straight days trying to decide why I should live. NOT why I should die, why I should LIVE! I knew I was not acting like a normal person. I was also aware my family was terrified I might hurt someone — and I might have. I returned home that fourth evening and asked my wife to sit down. I told her “I think, I am really ill.” Her response was “Ya think??” We arranged some therapy and a long trip to California for medical cannabis treatment. When I can access it legally, I use cannabis in small doses throughout the day. It quiets my mind and releases my anger! It works!!! I can say, without a doubt, I am more at peace now than I have ever been. My recovery is in a large part due to my access to medical cannabis. Call it anecdotal if you like. I just KNOW medical cannabis WORKED for me. Isn’t that all we really care about? If it works? It will most certainly work for other Veterans, children andadults in South Carolina that need it. Medical cannabis works! Medical cannabis works! Medical cannabis works!
Most of those who oppose medical cannabis (politicians) in South Carolina are evil, mean, greedy people. Treat them as such my brothers and sisters! None are vets! Two claim to be (Gov. McMaster and Senator Peeler), but they are posers. Punish them for their choice! How could a true veteran ever deny another vet relief from PTSD, no matter what the political price?
Unfortunately, in South Carolina Politics, as elsewhere: “It’s all about the Benjamin’s!”
Strength and Honor!
Dan Engle
