A steady marriage, a decorated service record, and a belief that cannabis could help—until the household began to fracture under the weight of rage, paranoia, and sleepless nights. We sit down with an anonymous wife from Hawaii who once backed legalization and even held a medical card herself. Her perspective shifted as dispensary “choice” replaced dosing guidance, and her husband’s PTSD collided with high-potency products like dabs, vapes, and edibles. What began as evening use grew into a constant drip of THC that reshaped personality, strained friendships, and forced a separation for safety.
We walk through the pivotal moments: the ransacked bedroom that signaled a tipping point; the confusion over whether cannabis could really cause such volatility; the attempts to seek help through the VA, Mar-Anon, and Thrive; and the hard-earned lessons about boundaries and enabling. Along the way, we explore how today’s cannabis marketplace blurs the line between “medical” and retail, offering potency without standardized dosing, minimal counseling, and branding that speaks louder than warnings. For veterans already navigating trauma, anxiety, and complex medication profiles, that gap can be devastating.
This story isn’t an attack on research-backed cannabinoid medicines for narrow conditions. It’s a clear-eyed account of what happens when policy and marketing outpace clinical guardrails—when families are told “it’s natural” while dosage, potency caps, and drug interactions remain afterthoughts. If you care about mental health, veteran well-being, and honest public health messaging, you’ll find both urgency and empathy here. Listen, share with someone who needs it, and help push the conversation toward real oversight and safer choices.
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