Americans in 31 U.S. states now have legal access to medical
marijuana under a doctor’s supervision. But don’t include military
veterans among them.
That is because the current policy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs explicitly prohibits VA physicians “from completing forms or registering veterans for participation in state-approved [medical marijuana] program[s].”
Some members of Congress have repeatedly sought to change this policy.
Most recently, the U.S. Senate voted 85 to 9 in favor of the Fiscal Year 2019 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which included language lifting this federal prohibition on veterans and their doctors.
But recently Republican leadership chose to remove these provisions from the bill at the eleventh hour during the reconciliation process. This decision leaves veterans without the access that is already available to ordinary citizens.
“Our veterans put their lives on the line for our country, and many come home dealing with visible and invisible wounds,” explained Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who supports expanding medical marijuana access and is herself is a veteran. “To continue limiting their access to quality health care through the VA is a disservice to them and the sacrifices they’ve made.”
“Opioid prescriptions for veterans have increased by 270 percent since 2003, resulting in 68,000 veterans developing an opioid addiction and a two-old increase in accidental opioid overdose deaths,” said Rep. Lou Correa, D-California, who has long campaigned to amend existing VA restrictions so that the department can actively participate in clinical trials involving cannabis.
“Throughout my district, I meet veterans who depend on cannabis to manage their pain. ... It is imperative to the health and safety of our veterans that we find alternative treatments for chronic pain and service-related injuries.”
But members of the GOP have consistently said otherwise. In 2016, GOP leaders quietly stripped away similar language in conference committee — despite the fact that both the House and Senate versions of the act had included it.
Congressional intransigence on this issue by the Republican Party defies common sense.
Veterans acknowledge using marijuana at rates far higher than the general population, and nearly half of them describe their use as self-medicating, according data published earlier this year in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
Further, according to nationwide survey data compiled by the American Legion in 2017, 39 percent of respondents affirm that they “know a veteran” who is using the plant medicinally. Twenty-two percent of respondents said they themselves “use cannabis to treat a mental or physical condition” — such as chronic pain, anxiety or post-traumatic stress.
According to a 2017 review of over 10,000 studies by the National Academy of Sciences, “In adults with chronic pain, patients who were treated with cannabis ... are more likely to experience a clinically significant reduction in pain symptoms. ... There is conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis and cannabinoids are effective for the treatment for chronic pain in adults.”
Other studies have shown that cannabis and its components can mitigate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and night terrors. Medical cannabis access is also consistently shown to be associated with reduced levels of opioid abuse and opioid-related mortality — two phenomena that have hit the veterans’ community especially hard.
In addition to the scientific evidence, public support roundly approves medical cannabis access.
According to nationwide polling data compiled earlier this year by Quinnipiac University, 91 percent of Americans — including eight out of ten of self-identified Republican voters — “support” allowing adults to use cannabis when it is recommended by their physician.
It is time for leaders in both parties to come together and amend federal law in a manner that comports with public opinion, the available science, and marijuana’s rapidly changing cultural and legal status.
America’s military veterans should no longer be held hostage by the
actions of a minority of lawmakers who are willing to place politics
before public health.
Paul Armentano is the deputy director of NORML — the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He is the co-author of the book “Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?” (Chelsea Green, 2013) and the author of the book “The Citizen’s Guide to State-By-State Marijuana Laws” (Whitman Press, 2015).
That is because the current policy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs explicitly prohibits VA physicians “from completing forms or registering veterans for participation in state-approved [medical marijuana] program[s].”
Some members of Congress have repeatedly sought to change this policy.
Most recently, the U.S. Senate voted 85 to 9 in favor of the Fiscal Year 2019 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which included language lifting this federal prohibition on veterans and their doctors.
But recently Republican leadership chose to remove these provisions from the bill at the eleventh hour during the reconciliation process. This decision leaves veterans without the access that is already available to ordinary citizens.
“Our veterans put their lives on the line for our country, and many come home dealing with visible and invisible wounds,” explained Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who supports expanding medical marijuana access and is herself is a veteran. “To continue limiting their access to quality health care through the VA is a disservice to them and the sacrifices they’ve made.”
“Opioid prescriptions for veterans have increased by 270 percent since 2003, resulting in 68,000 veterans developing an opioid addiction and a two-old increase in accidental opioid overdose deaths,” said Rep. Lou Correa, D-California, who has long campaigned to amend existing VA restrictions so that the department can actively participate in clinical trials involving cannabis.
“Throughout my district, I meet veterans who depend on cannabis to manage their pain. ... It is imperative to the health and safety of our veterans that we find alternative treatments for chronic pain and service-related injuries.”
But members of the GOP have consistently said otherwise. In 2016, GOP leaders quietly stripped away similar language in conference committee — despite the fact that both the House and Senate versions of the act had included it.
Veterans acknowledge using marijuana at rates far higher than the general population, and nearly half of them describe their use as self-medicating, according data published earlier this year in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
Further, according to nationwide survey data compiled by the American Legion in 2017, 39 percent of respondents affirm that they “know a veteran” who is using the plant medicinally. Twenty-two percent of respondents said they themselves “use cannabis to treat a mental or physical condition” — such as chronic pain, anxiety or post-traumatic stress.
According to a 2017 review of over 10,000 studies by the National Academy of Sciences, “In adults with chronic pain, patients who were treated with cannabis ... are more likely to experience a clinically significant reduction in pain symptoms. ... There is conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis and cannabinoids are effective for the treatment for chronic pain in adults.”
Other studies have shown that cannabis and its components can mitigate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and night terrors. Medical cannabis access is also consistently shown to be associated with reduced levels of opioid abuse and opioid-related mortality — two phenomena that have hit the veterans’ community especially hard.
In addition to the scientific evidence, public support roundly approves medical cannabis access.
According to nationwide polling data compiled earlier this year by Quinnipiac University, 91 percent of Americans — including eight out of ten of self-identified Republican voters — “support” allowing adults to use cannabis when it is recommended by their physician.
It is time for leaders in both parties to come together and amend federal law in a manner that comports with public opinion, the available science, and marijuana’s rapidly changing cultural and legal status.
Paul Armentano is the deputy director of NORML — the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He is the co-author of the book “Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?” (Chelsea Green, 2013) and the author of the book “The Citizen’s Guide to State-By-State Marijuana Laws” (Whitman Press, 2015).
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