Veterans Overwhelmingly Support Legalized Cannabis for Medical Treatment
January 01, 2020
For veterans who suffer from chronic pain, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or other afflictions commonly affecting servicemen and women, it can be difficult to find successful and safe treatment options. These conditions affect day to day life and relief is often elusive.
Considering this, it makes sense that most veterans — 83 percent — support legalization of medical cannabis and 89 percent say that they would use medical cannabis treatments if they were available to them. However, because medical marijuana is not legal at the federal level, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare providers are not able to prescribe, recommend or aid patients in finding medical cannabis.
Research shows that cannabis can be an effective treatment for many conditions and especially pain management. Statistics demonstrate that around 60 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return from service with some amount of chronic pain. Lack of access to medical cannabis contributes to the high rates of opioid pain prescriptions at VA facilities and then potentially even the increased rates of addiction and overdose for veterans. The National Institute of Health found that veterans are twice as likely to die from an accidental overdose than a civilian.
Some veterans, desperate for relief from their service-related conditions, use medical marijuana despite it not being prescribed or recommended by the VA. Others fear losing their VA benefits or their jobs if they are found to be using marijuana, even in places where it is legal at the state level.
Proposed legislation currently addresses these issues and could allow VA physicians to recommend medical cannabis to patients who need it. The Veterans Equal Access Act would allow VA health providers to recommend medical cannabis as a treatment option and help patients find state cannabis programs. The Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act would allow veterans to use cannabis and discuss its benefits with VA providers. If passed, these laws could increase access to treatments that most veterans want and need.