Hello. I'd like to thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.
I am Master Corporal (Retired) Andrew Baldwin-Brown. I enrolled in the forces in September 2001. I was a signaller. I did three tours in Afghanistan in the first six years of my service. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2012 and was subsequently medically released in October 2015.
I tried many SSRIs for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain in my lower back and in my knees. I didn't seem to find what I would call effective relief. I was more or less in a haze for about three or four years. I found that traditional medications didn't offer me the ability to feel either positive or negative emotions and it really negatively impacted my ability to get quality care.
Since then, as I said, I medically retired in October 2015. I've been a prescribed medical cannabis patient since January of that year. I had totally given up on the pill route.
Since then, I and eight other veterans co-founded a company called Spartan Wellness after seeing marked turnarounds in other patients, other veterans, in their quality of life, their ability to interact with their families, and keep up with commitments, both at home and outside. We decided it was time to actually take medical cannabis, as veterans, and take it back in-house, if you will, to take care of our own,
Currently, we have nine co-founders, all veterans, 26 veteran educators across the country, as well as the wife of a still-serving member who is taking care of our administration. A retired medic from the joint task force who did 16 years there is our medical director. We're hiring nurse practitioners who served in the forces as well.
When veterans come to us, they are processed administratively by a veteran, prescribed by a veteran, overseen by a veteran, and educated by a veteran on the way out. We feel there is nobody else in a better situation than us to help guide those patients. We have found that the difference in the quality of life is night and day. The veterans are, number one, staying alive. As I said, they are able to keep their family commitments and actually absorb proper treatment from psychiatric and psychological care as well as deal with their physical needs. They are able to get to physiotherapy. They are able to get to their doctors' appointments and they are actually improving.
That's pretty much all I have to say. I'm here to answer your questions more than to speak on what I do.
Thank you very much for having me here.