Raleigh, N.C. — Josh Biddix is an Iraq war veteran. He came home from deployment with post-traumatic stress disorder and a badly injured back. Both conditions deteriorated when he returned to work in law enforcement.
“There’d be days, just … almost tears, just hurting, and nothing you could do,” Biddix told WRAL News.
He went through three years of treatment and pain management at the VA hospital. At one point, he was on 23 different medications. Nothing was working.
“I have personally looked down the barrel of my own service weapon,” Biddix said. “The neurologist at the VA put me on some muscle relaxers they use for Parkinson’s and ALS patients, that type stuff. And I seriously could not get out of the bed. Like it was just, you’re just laying there, staring at the ceiling. That’s just not worth it.”
Biddix says several of his doctors suggested trying cannabis. He says it works better for him than prescription medication without the debilitating side effects.
“When you have a severe flare-up, or you’re having just a bad day with, you know, your mood and temper, which is all related to [post-traumatic stress],” Biddix said, “it can give you that relief to kind of give your mind time to reset, your body reset, and you’re back to fully functional within just, no time really.”
Right now in North Carolina, the only way Biddix can get the…