Weed > War

I've lost another veteran friend to overdose/suspected suicide yesterday. His name was Matt, he was a great fucking dude who got lost, or rather ABANDONED by two separate bullshit elements of this inside-out fucking society we live in that perpetuates itself by the deaths of those who can't keep up.

First: My buddy Matt did not receive an honorable discharge from the military. It's not because he spit in an officers face or sexually assaulted someone. Nor did he embezzle a large amount of money or anything actually destructive like that. My buddy Matt got kicked out of the army because he was smoking pot. And he was kicked out something like a few months before he was supposed to get out. Wow. Anyone wanna guess why my buddy Matt was smoking pot? I'll help you out if you don't seem to give a fuck. He was smoking pot to sleep, to eat, to smile, to laugh, to have a brain; all the typical 'pillars of logic' reasoning as to why anyone who suffers from PTSD, anxiety and depression would choose to consume Marijuana. I mean, we don't need to get all caught up in the factual or empirical evidence as to why marijuana is a much safer alternative to pounding your head out with alcohol or learning to get in touch with your inner fat zombie via SSRI's. With my very own personal experience regarding the situation (you know, the greatest conflict of my adult life) in mind, I would be willing to bet the actual physical existence of my penis on the fact that I am absolutely right about marijuana with regards to mental health issues.

But this is a two part issue, and because my buddy Matt didn't receive an honorable discharge he did not qualify for any veteran's benefits.

Wow. Fucking bummer, right? My buddy goes to war like the rest of us, sees fucked up shit all for the sake of a lie (that no one gives a fuck about), comes home, and in an attempt to get his head around it he smokes a little grass and now he can't get benefits. A fucking joint. Listen to what I'm saying: he smoked a little weed to get his head around the fact that this organization that sold him on 'Honor, Integrity' and a myriad of other hypocrisies lied to him straight to his face (not to mention his mother's face) and sent him to be a medic in a chaotic deployment of death and destruction and when he couldn't sleep or enjoy any element of his life he smoked some weed. Fuck.

Anyone ever heard about weed being more dangerous than war? I'm waiting for someone to bet the physical existence of their penis on the fact that weed is worse than war.

Second: Matt was kicked out of the army so he did not have the support of the VA to help him with his problems and he had to rely on his family to get him some help (counseling and such). Instead of having the VA to fall back on he had to seek help in the private sector. I don't know all the details, but what I do know is that he was seeing a private doctor with his mother's help and they gave him a prescription for 90 Xanax which he took too many of yesterday and died.

Could this have happened if he were under the care of the VA? Of course, but the VA wouldn't have been the one handing him the pills. See, at the VA they are trained to deal with patients who are two and a half times more likely to commit suicide than regular citizens. Let me repeat that so you have to read it again: two and a half times more likely to commit suicide than regular citizens. So at the VA they wouldn't just drop a half ton of benzodiazepines into your lap and expect you to take care of yourself, because they understand the risks involved.

But in the world of for-profit health care, who gives a fuck right?

So in the end my buddy Matt is dead because of these two backwards, destructive, illogical, repressive and highly evil elements of our culture: the fucking psychotic, psychotic, psychotic, PSYCHOTIC notion that war is more acceptable than personal drug use and a health care system that exists solely for profit instead of the well being of its participants.

Bullshit.

-For Matt, miss ya buddy.
(fyrp!)