Possible victory for Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use Medical Cannabis in states where it is legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years.
A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in veterans’ facilities between federal law, which outlaws Cannabis, and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the herb, effectively deferring to the states.
The policy will not permit department doctors to prescribe Cannabis. But it will address the concern of many patients who use the herb that they could lose access to their prescription pain medication if caught.
Under department rules, veterans can be denied pain medications if they are found to be using illegal drugs. Until now, the department had no written exception for Medical Cannabis.
This has led many patients to distrust their doctors, veterans say. With doctors and patients pressing the veterans department for formal guidance, agency officials began drafting a policy last fall.
When states start legalizing Cannabis we are put in a bit of a unique position because as a federal agency, we are beholden to federal law, said Dr. Robert Jesse, the principal deputy under secretary for health in the veterans department.
At the same time, Jesse said, we didn’t want patients who were legally using Cannabis to be administratively denied access to pain management programs.
The new, written policy applies only to veterans using Medical Cannabis in states where it is legal. Doctors may still modify a veteran’s treatment plan if the veteran is using Cannabis, or decide not to prescribe pain medicine altogether if there is a risk of a drug interaction. That decision will be made on a case-by-case basis, not as blanket policy, Jesse said.
Although veterans of the Vietnam War were the first group to use Cannabis widely for medical purposes, the population of veterans using it now spans generations, said Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, which worked with the department on formulating a policy.
Veterans, some of whom have been at the forefront of the Medical Cannabis movement, praised the department’s decision. They say cannabis helps sooth physical and psychological pain and can alleviate the side effects of some treatments.
