If you want to get paid to smoke pot, you might want to talk to the VA

By Mike Fitzgerald

Are you a military veteran? Do you have post-traumatic stress disorder? Do you enjoy smoking cannabis?

If you can answer yes to all three questions, then you might want to talk to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Military Times.

Mike Fitzgerald

VA researchers in Maryland and Arizona are looking for veteran volunteers to smoke up to two joints’ worth of marijuana a day in a new study designed to find out if pot helps relieve symptoms of PTSD.

“We’re not arguing that cannabis is a cure, but our hypothesis is that it will at least reduce the symptoms,” says physician and study organizer Dr. Sue Sisley.

The $2.2 million study, paid for by a grant from the state of Colorado to the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, will be conducted at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Sisley’s Scottsdale Research Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

A total of 76 combat veterans will be tested over 12 weeks, but only about four subjects will begin each month across both sites, so the study itself is expected to take two years to complete.

Those interested in taking part in Arizona can email their contact information to arizona@marijuanasites.org. Those in the Baltimore area can call 410-550-0050 to register their interest in participating.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart — a congressionally chartered service organization for active-duty and combat-wounded veterans — is warning about a telephone scam being conducted in its name, according to Stars and Stripes.

Unknown individuals have been cold-calling people across the United States, often from 315-516-2512, and requesting donations for the upcoming presidential election. The callers say they’re doing so on behalf of MOPH and mention the name of the group’s national commander, Robert Puskar.

“The public should be informed that these calls are a hoax,” a MOPH statement said. “MOPH remains an apolitical organization and, as such, ‘shall not contribute to or otherwise support or assist any political party of candidate for public office.”

The statement asks people to contact local authorities if they receive such calls.

The military is getting pulled into the presidential election fight between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which some fear is harming its reputation and ability to serve the future president, according to The Hill.

Retired, high-ranking military officers have been given high-profile roles in the Trump and Clinton campaigns, which critics argue risks harming the military’s status as an apolitical institution that serves the commander in chief regardless of party.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, an ardent Trump supporter and adviser, and Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, a Clinton supporter, were both given primetime speaking slots at the political parties’ recent conventions.

Flynn was rumored to be a vice presidential contender for Trump.

Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, was also vetted as a possible Clinton vice presidential pick, and has criticized Trump.

Some former and current officers in the military are worried over what they are seeing in both parties.

“The military is not a political prize. Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage,” Retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a sharply-worded letter to the editor of the Washington Post over the weekend.

The Hill is reporting that the Obama administration is mounting a new effort to expand drone use, which includes boosting funding for research, directing federal agencies to use the technology for department missions and teeing up new rules for flying drones over crowds.

The administration is building on its efforts to integrate drones into the national airspace, following on the heels of its first major rule permitting small commercial drone use in June.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the latest slew of policy initiatives in conjunction with a Tuesday workshop to examine the future of unmanned aircraft systems and aviation.

The emerging industry is projected to generate more than $80 billion for the U.S. economy by 2025 and could create up to 100,000 jobs.

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