Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, The Washington Post

BILL EYES MEDICAL POT FOR VETS

VA Would Get OK to Recommend Use

WASHINGTON - Arguing that medical marijuana may help wounded warriors 
with anxiety and stress disorders to "survive and thrive," Rep. Earl 
Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, 
have introduced legislation that would allow Department of Veterans 
Affairs' doctors to recommend the drug for some patients.

The Veterans Equal Access Act would challenge the VA's policy that 
forbids doctors from consulting about medical pot use. Earlier this 
month, The Washington Post reported about the issue.

"We should be allowing these wounded warriors access to the medicine 
that will help them survive and thrive, including medical marijuana, 
not treating them like criminals and forcing them into the shadows," 
said Blumenauer in a statement.

The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the 
same as heroin and LSD, deeming that it has no accepted medical use 
and a high potential for abuse. That means that VA, which runs the 
largest network of hospitals and health clinics in the country, 
cannot prescribe pot as a treatment, even for veterans who live in a 
state where medical marijuana is legal. VA says that its physicians 
and chronic-pain specialists "are prohibited from recommending and 
prescribing medical marijuana for PTSD or other pain-related issues."

Medical staff are also prohibited from completing paperwork required 
to enroll in state marijuana programs because they are "federal 
employees who must comply with federal law," said Gina Jackson, a VA 
spokeswoman.

More than 20 percent of the 2.8 million American veterans who served 
in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder 
and depression, according to the Blumenauer statement. In addition, a 
recent study found that of the nearly 1 million veterans who receive 
opioids to treat painful conditions, more than half continue to 
consume chronically or beyond 90 days, their statement said.

Another study found that the death rate from opiate overdoses among 
VA patients is nearly double the national average.

"In states where patients can legally access medical marijuana for 
painful conditions, often as a less-addictive alternative, the hands 
of VA physicians should not be tied," the statement said.

Researchers in the United States and several other countries have 
found evidence that cannabis can help treat PTSD and pain, although 
studies - such as those looking into the best strains and proper 
dosages - remain in the early stages.

Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans For Medical Cannabis 
Access, said they "are very proud to stand by Congressman Blumenauer 
and support the Veterans Equal Access Act."

"The Veterans Health Administration has made it very clear that, as 
federal employees, they lack the free speech necessary to write the 
recommendations for Veterans to comply with state programs," Krawitz 
said. "This legislation is needed to correct that legal situation and 
repair this VA doctor patient relationship."
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