Page 161 - Total War on PTSD

the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam have legalized the use of medical Marijuana, and despite the fact that CBD derived from industrial hemp is federally legal.
According to Walz, the House committee’s ranking member, the “VA’s response not only failed to answer our simple question, but they made a disheartening attempt to mislead me, my colleagues and the Veteran community in the process. They claimed, without citing any specific law, that VA is restricted from conducting research into medical Cannabis, which is categorically untrue. They also go on to make additional excuses while demonstrating a severely limited understanding of existing medical Cannabis research in the process.”
“What America’s Veterans need prioritized right now is for Cannabis to be treated as a health policy issue,” said Nick Etten, founder and executive director of the Veterans Cannabis Project. “We’re desperate for solutions for the conditions we’re dealing with.” In December of 2017, the VA urged patients to discuss medical Marijuana with their doctors. This shift in thought will permit doctors and patients to possibly determine what effect such a drug might have on individual treatment plans. Regardless, VA doctors still cannot refer their patients to state medical Marijuana programs due to federal restrictions. Despite the federal illegality, there are no restrictions to performing scientific research on the drug, and Universities conduct such research studies on a consistent basis. On the flip side, the VA has said that it will not do research on medical marijuana for Veterans with PTSD, even as veteran groups are advocating for use of the drug as a viable alternative to opioids and anti-depressants.
“We’ve got young men and women with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries coming to us and saying that Cannabis works,” stated Joe Plenzler, a spokesman for the American Legion. Plenzler said that, “Veterans had turned to medical Marijuana as an alternative to so-called
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