Thank you for this space and for the opportunity to share my story

I first experienced cannabis in the early
' 60's. It was much better than alcohol in the way it made me feel and the mindset was more helpful. Later as a combat officer in Vietnam there wasn't anything that I or the men with me, could do about the constant state of anxiety we were experiencing. The Army was not about to issue sedatives to men in active combat. Thankfully in Vietnam cannabis grows in abundance and of a superior quality than what I got in NYC. It quickly became a lifesaver for myself and my men. Circumstances provided an excellent opportunity to observe the difference in response to an emergency that differentiated those who were using alcohol and those using cannabis. I could not hazard all our lives relying on those who had been drinking. It was necessary to omit them from our mission while the men and myself who had been smoking cannabis were fully on point, coherent and dependable. When I returned Stateside things changed. I stopped drinking any kind of alcohol, using cigarettes and smoking cannabis when I became a Christian at a Pentecostal church.
When PTSD struck some 10 years later I found cannabis was once again useful for my sanity.

Sadly like many misguided Christian communities, it was looked down upon as a spiritual and moral weakness and a SIN. The Devil's Weed !!
Yet my own experience was that every time that I used cannabis it opened my heart to God and I felt at peace with myself and with the world.
I still use cannabis every day and thank God for the blessing of cannabis and other plant medicines that He has bountifully given to Mankind. I still attend a Southern Baptist Church but balance that with attending the Oklevueha Native American Church which uses sacred plant medicines in their ceremonies of healing. They are especially open to helping Veterans. Since 1998 I have been practicing Mindfulness meditation and found that the synthesis of all these elements has brought me home to myself and at peace.
Thomas G. Sacramento CA