"Veteran with PTSD Wants Medical Marijuana Legalized in Tennessee" article
Thank you Devin Newton, a USMC combat veteran from Dane's company, for having the courage to tell your story!!!
Click here to watch his interview.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Devin Newton is a United States Marine Corps combat veteran.
He did two tours in Afghanistan as a rifleman and saw things he'll always remember -- but wishes he could forget.
"Fire fights, explosions, indirect fire," he said.
At the end of his last tour in the Middle East, Newton took those painful memories back to Middle Tennessee.
"I wasn't aware of how aware I was for a while," he said. "I started to realize that I stuck out."
Newton suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For months he used alcohol to suppress his pain. But after getting busted for a DUI he was forced by the courts to give it up and was prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.
Newton says the pills did more harm than help so he turned to marijuana as a way to medicate.
"It made me feel happy and focused and relaxed and kind of just normal," he said.
While the marijuana helps it is illegal in Tennessee. Newton knows that and is completely honest about his use with the court system. And while using marijuana is a violation of his probation and could cost him jail time, Newton says it's his best option
"There's been three guys from the unit that I was in that have killed themselves," he said. "And I know one of them was put through several substance abuse courses for treatment for taking him off marijuana which made it worse. And I get why now; I get why because when you try to go for help it makes it worse."
