The U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) recently adopted a policy prohibiting VA physicians from recommending medical marijuana to their patients, even if marijuana is the safest and most effective medicine to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other service-related conditions.
No doubt the policy stems, in part, from the VA's efforts to address the serious problem of drug abuse among returning veterans. Veterans' advocates and organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) certainly share this concern; last fall, DPA issued a report calling for immediate policy changes to improve veterans' substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Yet seen from the larger perspective of helping veterans adjust to civilian life, the VA's stance on medical marijuana is counterproductive and harmful. The ban means that--despite their service to our country--veterans who reside in the 14 states that have legalized medical marijuana are denied the same rights as every other resident of these states.
At minimum, the VA should be actively studying whether cannabis and its unique chemical ingredients can be used to reduce post-combat trauma without contributing to drug dependency. Ample research and anecdote strongly suggest this is the case.
Patient reports and published research indicate that marijuana can be a highly effective treatment for PTSD, a condition afflicting nearly one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And overwhelming scientific evidence has already proven marijuana's safety and efficacy for treating conditions like chronic pain, which affects many combat-injured veterans.
Marijuana, moreover, carries none of the risks associated with prescription drugs used to treat PTSD, which have been implicated in the tragic overdose deaths of several current conflict veterans.
"I've run the gamut of different medications at the VA, and basically I was at my limit," said decorated U.S. Army veteran Paul Culkin, a New Mexico medical marijuana patient who suffers from PTSD after serving in Iraq. "The medications were turning me into a zombie...medical cannabis made me a father and a husband again. It's been a blessing."
Disappointingly, however, it seems the VA's policy is not just about preventing substance abuse among veterans. The VA claims the ban is primarily a response to threats from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prosecute VA doctors for recommending medical marijuana, or for completing forms necessary for their patients to enroll in a state medical marijuana program--even though to do so would not constitute a criminal offense. Civilian doctors recommending marijuana to their patients have not been arrested or threatened with arrest.
Veterans and advocates are now urging the VA to stand up to the DEA's harassment of veterans and remove the apparent gag order on its doctors. Such advocates include Montel Williams, talk show host, medical marijuana patient, and veteran of the United States Marines Corps and Navy, who said:
"I find it egregiously offensive that we can send our children off to die for our freedom, and then so callously turn our backs on their freedom when they return home. Research has proven the efficacy of medicinal marijuana in the treatment of PTSD. How dare we turn our backs on those who did not hesitate to put themselves in harms way to support and defend our Constitution?"
As a result of the ban, veterans who would benefit from medical marijuana are forced to obtain medical advice about it from private doctors outside the VA system--at their own expense.
Of course, veterans in states without medical marijuana laws fare far worse. These veterans risk arrest for using marijuana to treat their combat injuries, joining the more than 800,000 Americans arrested annually for marijuana offenses. DPA's report advocates for sensible policies to prevent the arrest and incarceration of veterans. Protecting veterans who use marijuana is an obvious starting point. In fact, other NATO countries not only allow their veterans to use medical marijuana, but actually reimburse them for it. Sadly, it appears U.S. troops will not come home to as enlightened or compassionate a country.
Our veterans must not be treated like lesser-citizens. They deserve to receive medical advice from their VA doctors, not the DEA. They deserve, above all, the freedom to choose the safest and most effective treatment for their conditions--whatever that treatment might be. Paul Culkin said it best: "It would be inconceivable to withhold weapons, equipment or training from our troops on the ground. Why are we denied access to a medication that might provide relief to us and our families when we come home?"
Bob Kerrey is President of the New School in New York City and former Senator from Nebraska. Jason Flom is on the Board of Directors of the Drug Policy Alliance and President of Lava Records.
Sunflowerpipes.com
i'm also keenly aware of the comfort marijuana provided my beautiful wife..
in her 16 year battle with multiple sclerosis.
in the end i was holding the pipe for her..
If this is VA policy, we need to get the word out to veterans who are avoiding treatment in VA facilities due to fear of retribution for use of cannabis in treatment of some of their medical conditions.
Also would like to know if any veteran has been denied service in a VA clinic due to use of cannabis in medical treatment.
Make sure your local politicians hears this as well. Mayor, state representatives etc.
Email your governor since they usually have the right to veto anything at times. Local change is important since that is what has brought about 14 states to legalize medical marijuana and others are in the works.
Find out who is on the national committees who oversee the VA and write to them.
I would dig up some local statistics if possible. Ask your local investigative news organizations if they can put together how much tax payers would save if they didn’t have to use law enforcement to chase down folks, how about the cost of legal representation, defense lawyers, jails, prisons. Is it a money maker for them to seize property with drug busts and how much is confiscated to how much is spent? What about the border patrol costs? DEA? How about agents we send to Columbia, Mexico and etc? What about all the deaths involved on Mexican border involved in drug smuggling? Maybe those resources could be focused on the hard drugs like heroine and others instead?
My name is welcome to be first on the list. I'll have a Federal lawsuit filed before you can finish the phrase 'just say no'. I live in DC. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Constitutional lawyer ready to take the case on my behalf.
Police are directed not to arrest unless it's in public. District attorney are directed not to prosecute.
Towns passed ordinances against it in public, much like public drinking.
A $200 fine I think in most towns.
We didn't need politicians to agree. We passed a Proposition.
Let the cops go after bad guys. Not after some teenager with a few ' bones ' on him.
I have not partaken of anything in over 10 years but RAMstein you are right on the money!
Or that VA doctors cannot prescribe it, even if requested?
Appararently vets can have it prescribed to them, as the NM vet did.
Is this like Miranda, which is just the right to be informed of rights you already have?
If so, let's fix it:
HEY YOU VETS - POT IS GREAT, TRY SOME !!!
It's a bad idea to listen to doctors anyway. If doctors told me to smoke pot, I'd give it up.
stick it to him!
wait.. that doesn't sound right..
Orwell - All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
They are a police agency, not a scientific or medical agency.
Like any agency, DEA functionaries will say and do Anything to keep their jobs.
The bigger the "problem", the bigger their budget, no matter how stupid or futile.
1. As pointed out in this article, veterans (and all other non-medical-mj users) turn elsewhere to seek mj. I'm glad to finally see open recognition being given to the fact that millions of Americans use mj for a variety of reasons regardless of the law. Does anyone actually believe that the law is stopping anyone? Why is this law still in place?
2. Among most who have had some interaction with psychopharmaceuticals, psychmeds are now believed to be a slippery slope in many cases. This belief is held not only by patients (some who feel like subjects of experimental medicine), but also by many in the medical community. Does anyone doubt, at this point, that regulation in the pharmaceutical industry in regards to psychmeds is skewed in favor of profits of pharmaceutical companies?
I live in one of the states where mj is now decriminalized. I've yet to hear one account, since decriminalization, of anything of concern regarding mj.
This is all about money and politics. This whole charade is another ongoing example of Americans getting screwed for the sake of the profit among corporations, politicians, and law enforcement.
Please do your job and prosecute some real criminals.
Sincerely,
The American People
The war of drugs is, in the words of Judge Gray, "imminently fund-able". In other words, Law Enforcement get funds very easily by attacking this plant.
Big pharma, big Ag, big timber, even big oil, all staunch opponents.
Hemp can be used to make paper and plastics, feed people (hemp seed is second in amino acids only to soybean), even fuel cars (Hemp has 8 times the cellulose of corn). The fibers in hemp are extremely strong, and the only longer natural fiber is flax, which is extremely temperamental to grow.
There are many industries just waiting to get legal so they can stop importing from Canada, at least a million jobs waiting to be created.
Did you know, when prohibition was ended, it created more than a million jobs?
We could go a lot of good by ending the prohibition of Cannabis.
The issue is cannabis. Not hemp. Not even medical cannabis.
The skirting of the issue with trying to provide some societal benefit through fiber or medicine or biofuels does nothing. The issue is cannabis (really THC I guess). The adverse effects of cannabis to an individual are much lower than the effects of it being illegal. Crimes regarding cannabis have real victims and result in people with drug felonies (felonies over a plan, how un-American is that?).
Even the jobs thing should not matter. The government should allow individuals to ingest any substance even if it harms that individual. It need to be about a right to privacy as that is the only way to change drug policy.
I also disagree about those who seek to keep cannabis regulated. Do you know how much profit those industries would make?