A Democratic congressman is slamming the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) for perpetuating a “misguided denial of services” by recommending against the use of medical marijuana by veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, sent a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough and DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday—the same day that he helped pass an amendment to a spending bill covering VA that allow the department’s doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to veterans living in legal states.
VA and DOD “have a long history of claiming the best interest of our veterans and service-members only to deny the reality of medical marijuana as a key treatment option for those impacted by PTSD,” he wrote, referencing recently updated joint clinical practice guidelines that the departments released last month.
In that guidance, the agencies asserted that the “benefits of cannabis were outweighed by the potential serious adverse effects,” and that they “found no new evidence” on cannabis to treat PTSD.
But the congressman is pushing back.
“For decades, I have heard from veterans across the country that medical cannabis has been a life-saving treatment for PTSD,”
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