In Historic Move, V.A. Eases Rules for Medical Marijuana Patients
Major news! The Department of Veterans Affairs has formally announced that patients being treated at V.A. facilities will be allowed to use medical marijuana if they live in one of the 14 states where it is legal.
This historic development was trumpeted over the weekend in a front-page New York Times story that quoted MPP’s Steve Fox. “We now have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine,” Steve told the Times, adding that the department needs to make its guidelines clear to patients and V.A. officials nationwide.
Under the policy, V.A. doctors still won’t be allowed to recommend marijuana to patients, but legal medical marijuana users will not be automatically precluded from pain management programs. Previously, many veterans believed they could lose access to prescription pain medications if they were found to be using medical marijuana, and some—including an Army veteran interviewed by The Times—were even told they needed to choose between medical marijuana and other pain medications. This latest policy clarification should prevent similar future incidents.
But there is still more that needs to be done. The new policy does not apply to patients or veterans in the 36 states where medical marijuana is still illegal. Many veterans rely on the V.A. for all their healthcare needs as well, and even if they live in a medical marijuana state, they may not be able to receive a recommendation from a non-V.A. doctor.
Regardless, this is a huge step forward – and one more crack in the federal government’s baseless opposition to sane medical marijuana policies.
Tagged with: New York Times and Steve Fox and V.A. and Veterans Affairs by the author
27 comments
Just legalize it , pushing for mmj will just allow them to be able to label me as a prescription drug abuser,,, lame.
Agreed. Legalize it and the MMJ issue becomes moot. MMJ has been a good way to spoon feed the prohibitionists and deprogramme their brainwashed minds. Some of them anyway….
This is a major step in the right direction. The federal government is slowly but surely beginning to realize that they’re fighting a war that they’ll never win . The increased news coverage on this issue and the work of organizations such as MPP are really making a difference…..
ALL Veterans should receive the care they need, “even” if this includes Medicinal Cannabis! And the care they need is less dependence on addictive and potentially dangerous chemicals (many prescription drugs) that are in common use! And with the news that Cannabis may actually be an “exit” drug and help people stay off booze and other really dangerous drugs, the argument for our veterans having an access to Medicinal Cannabis is overwhelming and decisive. By the way, both the American Medical Association and the Institute of Medicine are in support of Medicinal Cannabis use.
Holy Smokes. This is great news for the soldiers who have served our country and now suffer. It’s about time they recognized the benefits that were once prohibited.
Rev.sLeezy
Gladly give up the prescribed Oxycontin for prescribed Marijuana for the peripheral nerve pain caused by my amputation (R A/K hand grenade Nam 1967).
Medical Marijuana currently not available in Massachusetts.
I almost can’t believe this. Such significant progress. I’m beginning to feel more optimistic everyday that sensible cannabis laws are within reach at all levels of our government.
great news
as the ball rolls the obstacles tumble like an avalanche of snow. This is a great victory in our corner, though barley significant without V.A. doctors being able to prescribe. The comment made about V.A. giving marijuana to veterans in the remaining states should not be directed at the V.A. its self but the states because in accordance with the new ordinance on patient services the V.A. would allow them to use if it was legal in all the states.
legalization is coming and I will continue to say 2015 will be the year that the ban is lifted, unless Obama’s gets reelected then it may as well be 2017 or 2018.
This would be a good time to contact the President and express our appreciation for a job well done!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
it needs to be legalized for recreational and medical use!
keep the medical marijuana cards though… make them harder to get….. those with MMJ cards should be able to purchase marijuana tax-free…. noone should have to pay tax on medicine…..
too bad we will not have mmj in ohio anytime soon, lame ass state
As remarkable as this bit of news is, this policy is the same as the original policy adopted by the VA back in 2003. I researched the question of what was the justification for stopping a Veteran’s pain meds when they test positive for marijuana back in 2008, and was told the doctors where required by law to stop a patients meds. I then inquired as to what law required them to do this I was told that the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 required them to do this. I responded to them that the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act was declared unconstitutional in 1970 and that the law they wanted was the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. I also told them that nowhere in the 1970 law does it require a VA Doctor to stop a patients meds if they test positive for marijuana. In a letter from the VA dated 11 August 2008, which was a reply to a 20 June 2008 letter I had sent, The VA cited VA/DOD Clinical Practice Guidelines, Opoid Therapy For Chronic Pain Summary dated June 2003, page 13 paragraph M2.1, and page 15, paragraph N2.2, and N2.3. After some research I found the appropriate regulation and it states that pain contracts, urinalysis, and withholding a patients pain medications are not required by the Doctor. The Doctor is only required to ’consider’ using these methods if he determines his patient might be having a problem with their medication, he is not required to do anything.
The new policy is virtually the same as the original policy, and as we have always argued, a decision that should be made between a patient and his doctor. There is no doubt of the many benefits of medical marijuana. The question is when will the Federal Government allow our wounded Veterans, those most deserving of every tool we can give them to cope with the horrific injuries they have suffered in the name of the American People, to benefit from medical marijuana as the patients in 14 States are currently allowed to do?
Once again, children, lets review our Federal Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana is a “Schedule One” drug, not considered by the feds to be “medicinal.” That means that it is considered to be in the same category as heroin, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine. This is what keeps our favorite medication a felony if one is captured growing, dealing, etc. Now, Oregon’s Board of Pharmacy, on its very own, has declared pot to be a Schedule Two drug, which does have some medicinal purposes. This is absolutely drop-dead historical and is the first wide hole blown in the Fed’s policy. Now, I am sorry if I sound patronizing this morning. I just think we need to get on the same page with useful information. I am so tired of us being obedient citizens who just have no idea what keeps pot illegal. It ain’t the states, kids, its the feds, thanks to the Bureau of Narcotics creating all this garbage, such as the Controlled Substances Act, and the infamous J.D. Anslinger, former head of the Bureau for ALMOST FIFTY YEARS. Ack!! End of class for the day …
I have been off of my psych meds and other medications that I usualy receive when I go to the VA. I have osteo arthritis, fibromayalgia, major depression and thyroid disease with a half dozen other diagnoses.
The reason I don’t go is because every time I do, they want to drug test me because they give me viccodin and want to make sure i’m not doing other drugs.
When I totally cut MJ out of my life the pain just doesn’t go away – ever. But if i cut the others out – at least i’m not in nearly so much pain or swallowing so many pills to ease the pain that my liver wants to run away.
People shouldn’t have to choose. The viccodin addresses my arthritis and the MJ takes care of the nerve pain in fibromayalgia. But I need my other meds too and I feel like the discrimination at the VA is so pervasive that I don’t trust my doctors to actually help me more than look for reasons to deny me what I need and what is legal in my state.
I was in the NG until 2 months ago when I was kicked out for droping hot. I was injured on military time 3 1/2 years ago and they have yet to fix the injury. In the meantime the pain & misalignment from that causes problems with the osteoperosis I have in my low back. MJ is the only thing that gives me any kind of relief from any of my conditions but the military says no-go. Not only do I live in a state that medical marijuana is legal, I am legal to smoke. Go figure. At least this is a step in the right direction for the acceptance and hopefully soon, decriminilization.
I am a ret vet who is at 70% rating I was on vicdon , morphine. Oxcotin for a long time I stopped all most two years ago the reason is this that SHIT did not help my pain all it did was create a new issue it is called ADDITION so now I still have pain and a new demons addition using MMJ would help in my daily life but I live in a state that is not on the list of legal marijuana my question is this if the VA is ok with medical marijuana than why would it matter what state I live in people like myself who gave it all to keep this country safe why am I not aloud to use medical marijuana?I did not a damm thing wrong I servred for 20.years can some one answer this for me
I agree with the doctor (#4) that medical marijuana could be an exit to other, more debilitating, medications (DRUGS)! The VA’s progress and humane move to allow our brave soldiers to experience life without being crippled by pharmaceuticals is wonderful. Medical Marijuana is the alternative. Enough is enough with the governments monopoly on our health and Natures ability to contribute to our well-being. Lets legalize Marijuana this November in California.
Bruce,
My heart goes out to you and others like you who have served this country so bravely. I would say support California in its bid to legalized Marijuana and network with Veterans in your hometown, city and state to hear the call of our brave soldiers, like you, to include on an initiative to legalize Medical Marijuana. Also, ask fir assistance from the MPP and other supporters. You have may support and assistance.
I never thought this would happen! This is great news!
OIF 05 – 06, 07 – 08
i just think this whole hype about pot being legal is based off of the religious gurus living on the east coast in what is known as the bible belt. these mother fuckers are pushing to keep it illegal bc all they know about it is that it gets you high and to them thats against the word of god… people need to stop fighting against a cause they have no applicable knowledge about. i mean seriously u cant tell me ur average church go-er even knows the outskirts of marijuana history and what it has been used for and in for thousands of years. yeah i smoke, fuckin deal with it u predjudice fucks! besides getting high, theres more uses for pot than people give credit for. foods with pot in them taste fucking delicious! its the best.
Sorry to stray from the subject a bit, but as a chronic pain patiant for years now, and sick of spinal injections, more, and stronger meds, surgeries, other “procedures,” etc…No, marijuana won’t eliminate all that, but it helps in many ways, including increaseing the effectiveness of meds, without having to take stronger, and more meds, and so, so much more.
My question is, if anyone knows, is what is going on with the New Jersey LAW. It passed the legislature, and was signed into law with a specific date that it was to go into effect, if I’m not mistaken, and then Gov. Christie, who I won’t rant about, as one of the worst governers this state has ever seen, then asked for an extention, and that’s last I have heard. I know that date is near, or past, but I hear nothing on the status of the implimentation of this LAW. Does anyone know anything about this? Has anyone even heard anything at all?
Thank you!
You would never know from Meno’s article that the folks that did the work were those at the Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access.
Please see: VeteransforMedicalMarijuana.org.
My husband served in Viet-Nam-1stBn/9thMarines(Walking Dead.)Disabled with P.T.S.D.When self-medicates with alcohol= Anger + Violence. Like rest of you, he can’t legally use MJ. Now, my story. I”m disabled with nerve damage- spine/neck (receive injections) also, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, thyroid disease, etc. In Dec.2009 bled-out with Ischemic colitis. Now, No pain meds. at all for me. I can”t keep any weight on now. 5’6″ 117llbs. MJ is ALL that I can use for pain control + appetite. Medical MJ is necessary for So Many!!!
The major force delaying MJ and MMJ legalization has been and remains the hot burning overdose $igarette industry which profits from the well-advertised concept, or “format”, of lighting up 700 mg. (of tobackgo) every time you want a “smoke”. Most of all this Industry fears legalization of “one-toke skunkweed” which will make the 500-mg. “joint” obsolete, replaced by vaporizers and one-hitters, and take down the 700-mg. tobackgo $igarette with it.
Not only does this Industry procure $30-bil. a year for governments across the USA in “taxes” (i.e. bribe) but it invests heavily in hiring well-dressed, well-spoken lobbyists to schmooze with legislators and administrators throughout government. For example, a recent Alternet story mentions that Cong. John Boehner, would-be Speaker, has a “close associate” named John Fish, an “in-house lobbyist for R. J. Reynolds”.
Lest they hire someone to shoot us (look what they do to 6 million of their faithful customers every year), we are best advised not to antagonize “Too Pig to Fail” corps like Reynolds and Philip Morris. What to do? In the mercy of my hearty heart heart I have found the answer: recycle them! Find something $igarette companies can do to make money after $igarettes are a long-forgotten tragic story out of the middle ages. For example, the machines now used to roll 6 trillion $igarettes a year worldwide can be used to roll up potting soil with a seed inside for use in reforestation planting, which will reduce climate disasters, droughts, floods, malaria etc. If a credible list of “occupation transition” programs can be drawn up guaranteeing survival for these Companies and their employees and shareholders, I believe they will relax their genocidal opposition to MMJ for Vets and MJ for inventors, futurists and artists.
maybe these emails were sending are doing something . Michele leonard was the one threatening va drs. about vets and mmj so our request for her nomination withdrawal may have made someone go hmmmm… maybe we should throw the pot heads a bone. thanks, hey!! look !! this ones still got some meat on it!!! tastes like chicken!!
Outstanding comments everyone!!……..
ALL soooo true!……..
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