Across the United States, more than 18 million military veterans live with the lasting effects of service. For many, combat did not end when they returned home. The scars of war-whether in the form of physical injuries, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or invisible mental health struggles-are daily realities. Yet despite decades of evidence supporting cannabis as a therapeutic tool, America's veterans still face barriers to safe and consistent access.
In late July, 27-year-old Shane Tamura opened fire in an office building at 345 Park Avenue. Tamura shot multiple people in the building's lobby before trying to take the elevator to get to the NFL's offices. It was later revealed that Tamura took the wrong elevator bank. Tamura killed four people including one police officer before turning the rifle on himself and dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Prosecutors allege that he used a seven-inch baton to beat a woman in the head on Oct. 13, 2024 at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. The woman told police that her attacker had been yelling derogatory things to other women present at the station, and had said, f you b-, shortly before hitting her. She went unconscious, causing a concussion and a brain injury, according to police.
Roam the wide-open halls and cavernous showrooms of the Colorado Convention Center during Psychedelic Science, the world's largest psychedelics conference, and you'll see exhibitors hawking everything from mushroom jewelry, to chewable gummies containing extracts of the psychoactive succulent plant kanna, to broad flat-brim baseball caps emblazoned with "MDMA" and "IBOGA." Booths publicize organizations such as the Ketamine Taskforce and the Psychedelic Parenthood Community, and even The Faerie Rings, a live-action feature film looking to attract investors.
A concussion is a form of traumatic brain injury that can occur when a blow to the head or force that shakes your body is strong enough to cause your brain to hit the side of your skull. Myriad symptoms can occur, including headaches, decreases in cognitive function such as confusion or amnesia, sleep difficulties such as prolonged feelings of drowsiness, and emotional dysregulation such as irritability and mood swings.
In the 1980s, one of my psychology professors at the University of Toronto advocated against using labels for psychological or psychiatric diagnoses. "Why not?" I questioned. "How else will we know what illness they have? Labels being bad sounds like psychological mumbo jumbo." By the end of that school year, I understood how labels stigmatize and limit recovery. Humans use labels to distinguish between themselves and those not like them.
