Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder have a new place to turn in Cape Breton.

It's a centre that offers to help vets get access to medical marijuana.

Marijuana for Trauma — Veterans Helping Veterans — has opened in the former Victoria Order of Nurses building on King's Road in Sydney.

Founder Fabian Henry is from New Waterford but now lives in Fredericton.

He is a former military combat engineer who has suffered for years from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"After three years, I tried cannabis for the first time in my life and I got relief," said Henry. "That was five years ago and I've only been on one medication for five years now."

'They're not dope addicts'

Watch Above: Medical marijuana users are calling on police to stop investigating those who use the product after charges against a man and his wife were dropped. Ray Bradshaw reports.

HALIFAX – Medical marijuana users are calling on Halifax police to stop investigating people who need and use the product.

Story continues below

Bob Dillman injured his back and the medication he was prescribed destroyed his immune system. He says he gets some relief from using cannabis and a strict diet. He had a federal exemption to use cannabis, but it expired in February 2014.

Dillman and his wife were charged with possession of cannabis in early March 2015, but those charges have now been dropped.

Nearly two-thirds of the money the federal government spent on medical marijuana last year went to veterans in Atlantic Canada — a region with comparatively few veterans.

According to Veterans Affairs Canada, the federal department spent $5.2 million on medical marijuana for veterans in the last fiscal year. Of that, almost $3.4 million — or 65 per cent — went to veterans in Atlantic Canada.

Meanwhile, the number of veterans living in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and P.E.I. accounts for less than 14 per cent of the total number in Canada.

Fabian Henry, a former Canadian Forces member, takes responsibility for helping to introduce medical marijuana to East Coast veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.