The new federal guidelines have allowed use of medical marijuana at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics in the 14 states, where it's legal. The Veterans Affairs Department guidelines aim to clarify existing policy that says veterans may not be treated with pain medication in case they used illegal drugs. The policy had enraged several veteran groups, who had been protesting against it for years. They contended that policy would deprive hundreds of people from VA benefits if they were caught using outlawed drugs.
It's notable that the new guidelines do not encourage the prescription medical marijuana, which is considered an illegal drug under federal law. The guidelines makes it clear that in the 14 states that haven't banned pot, VA clinics may use medical marijuana for veterans. "For years, there have been veterans coming back from the Iraq war who needed medical marijuana and had to decide whether they were willing to cut down on their VA medications," John Targowski, a legal adviser to the group Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, which worked with the VA on the issue. Targowski in an interview Saturday said that confusion over the government's policy had led to distrust on doctors or avoid the VA system.
Dr. Robert A. Petzel, the VA's undersecretary for health, recently wrote to Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access this month, highlighting the department's policy. The guidelines will be circulated to the VA's 900 care facilities around the country in the next week. Petzel stressed that a VA doctor reserved the authority to modify a veteran's treatment plan in case of risks of a bad interaction with other drugs. "If a veteran obtains and uses medical marijuana in a manner consistent with state law, testing positive for marijuana would not preclude the veteran from receiving opioids for pain management" in a VA facility, Petzel wrote. "The discretion to prescribe, or not prescribe, opioids in conjunction with medical marijuana, should be determined on clinical grounds."
