Greg Duran, left, and Seth McBride embrace after they testified in support of approving medical marijuana for PTSD, which McBride suffers from. McBride, from Longmont, served in the Army in Iraq. The Colorado Board of Health had a hearing about qualifying conditions for medical marijuana on July 15, 2015, and opted against adding PTSD to the list. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Editorial: Science should trump anecdotes on medical pot for PTSD

The Colorado Board of Health made the right call Wednesday when it rejected a proposal to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the conditions that qualify for medical marijuana. If there isn’t scientific evidence that marijuana actually is an effective treatment for PTSD — and there isn’t — then it shouldn’t join the list.

That list already includes conditions for which there is little or no evidence that pot helps, and the state should resist attempts to add to the problem.

It’s disappointing that the state’s chief medical officer had recommended approval.

To be sure, some veterans who suffer from PTSD insist that marijuana is vital to their well-being. But anecdotes are not science. And in Colorado, you can buy marijuana in the retail market, too.

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This story was first published on DenverPost.com