Government agencies and legislative bodies, which usually move at a slug-like pace, can act quickly, especially if no one is particularly seeking the change. The Department of Justice announced last week that Indian tribes can grow and sell marijuana on their lands as long as they follow the same federal conditions laid out for states that have legalized the drug, the Associated Press reported. Never mind that many tribes oppose legalization and only a few have expressed interest in the marijuana industry. But the choice is there, just in case. (Which is a good thing.)
In contrast, for several years now, veterans, advocacy and medical groups have petitioned the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a drug with medical benefits, from its current Schedule 1, which means marijuana is not recognized as having any medical benefit. A reclassification would allow doctors to recommend it, veterans to use it and researchers to legally study it.
The schedule change can come from the president, the attorney general, the DEA or Congress. As it happens, a bill introduced in Congress in November sidesteps the classification dilemma altogether, RT.com reported. The Veterans Equal Access Act — introduced with bipartisan support — would remove a ban on Veterans Administration doctors giving opinions or recommendations on medical marijuana to veterans who live in states where it is legal.
It’s not an ideal bill, since all veterans should be able to take advantage of such a change, (as well as active duty personnel) regardless of where they live, but it is a start.
More and more veterans are calling for access, according to the Washington Post. Veterans report that cannabis is effective for conditions related to military service — from chronic back pain and neuropathic issues to panic attacks and insomnia — and often preferable to widely prescribed opioid painkillers and other drugs.
Extremely preferable, in fact, to addiction and overdose, whether by accident or suicide. The opioid epidemic that is so prevalent in society is even worse in the military, whose members are prescribed narcotic painkillers three times as often as civilians, public radio station KPLU (94.9 FM) reported.
The prescriptions often make problems worse.
In 2012, researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center published a paper showing that VA doctors prescribed significantly more opiates to patients with PTSD and depression than to other veterans — even though people suffering from those conditions are most at risk of overdose and suicide. Scientific studies have demonstrated the benefits of cannabis for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, some of whom were on the brink of suicide, making the option a godsend.
In the absolute best interests of our veterans, Congress needs to pass the Veterans Equal Access bill, and in the interest of science and reality, go ahead and change Schedule 1 classification of cannabis as well.
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