Let It Rip Weekend: Going to Pot Special Edition - Fox 2 News Headlines

State health officials have approved the use of medical marijuana to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that's prevalent in America's war veterans.  Dakota Serna is one of them.  He spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and uses pot to treat his PTSD.  He says he wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for marijuana.  But addiction specialist Eric Coffman, D. O. thinks prescribing an intoxicant to treat a mental illness won't work in the long run.

Plus, what if we went a step further and legalized marijuana for recreational use.  The group, Safer Michigan was successful in decriminalizing the drug in cities like Detroit, Ferndale and Lansing.  Now they want to expand their efforts in a dozen other Metro Detroit communities.  Andrew Cissell is affiliated with the group and he's using the pro-marijuana platform to launch a campaign for State Rep. in Hazel Park (while simultaneously fighting criminal drug dealing charges in Oak Park).  Judge Jodi Debbrecht Switalski of Waterford's 51st District Court is against making pot legal.  She thinks it would irreparably harm kids and young adults.

Judge Debbrecht Switalski is also involved in the fight against prescription drug abuse, especially opioid-based pain killers like oxycontin.  She's partnered with the group Regional Anti-Drug and Outreach (RADEO) to raise the alarm about these dangerous pills found in a large percentage of home medicine cabinets.