U U S S A A
Victory
FOR
VETERANS
Medical cannabis is legal in 33 US states, but its Schedule I status
remains a huge barrier to access for the nation’s veterans. Two
new bills could fi nally change that.
Words by Gordon Stribling
Two bills that would make it easier for US
veterans to access medical cannabis have
passed a House Committee in a huge win
in America’s fi ght against the ongoing
opioid epidemic.
Medical cannabis is legal in 33 states, but because
cannabis is a Schedule I drug at federal level,
veterans are only able to access it outside of
the Veterans Affairs (VA) network, which can be
prohibitively expensive for many.
The f irst bill would permit VA doctors to
recommend medical cannabis in legal states.
The second would require that the VA conducts
a clinical trial into cannabis as a treatment for
chronic pain and PTSD, among other conditions
suffered by veterans. If the Veterans Equal Access
Act and Veterans Medical Cannabis Research Act
pass, veterans will be able to substitute existing
medications for cannabis or incorporate it into
their existing treatment.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer who introduced
the f irst bill said:
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“Even though this has been approved on the
floor of the House in the past as an amendment
to appropriations bills, it’s been stonewalled by
Senate Republican leadership.
“This is the way forward to guarantee it becomes
the law of the land.”
A study published last year in American Journal
of Preventative Medicine revealed that veteran
deaths f rom all opioids increased by 65% between
2010 and 2016.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has
said that opioid death rate among the veteran
population have increased due to the increase in
deaths f rom heroin and synthetic opioids, such as
fentanyl.
Meanwhile, Robert Wilkie, secretary of Veteran
Affairs has stated that veterans are twice as
likely to die f rom opioid abuse than the general
population.
The VA has also said that veterans are almost
twice as likely to develop PTSD.
As well as increasing veteran access to a
less harmful and less addictive alternative,