The Department of Veterans Affairs has given go ahead to the usage of medical marijuana in states where it is legal. A department directive, expected to come into effect next week, also clarifies things between the federal law, which illegalizes pot and the 14 states that allow medicinal usage of the drug. The policy doesn’t encourage doctors to prescribe marijuana. But the directive is expected to benefit many patients who could have lost access to the prescription to pain medication if found guilty of taking outlawed drugs like marijuana.
Under department rules, veterans can be denied pain medications if it’s found that they were consuming illegal drugs. Until the latest directive, the department had no written exception for the medicinal usage of the drug. Veterans said that the earlier laws had led to distrust among doctors and patients. With doctors and patients exerting pressure on the veterans department for formal guidance, agency officials started working on a police last fall.
“When states start legalizing marijuana we are put in a bit of a unique position because as a federal agency, we are beholden to federal law,” said Dr. Robert Jesse, the principal deputy under secretary for health in the veterans department. At the same time, Dr. Jesse said, “We didn’t want patients who were legally using marijuana to be administratively denied access to pain management programs.”
Veterans, some of whom have been leading the medical marijuana movement, welcomed the department’s decision. They said that the move would benefit thousands of veterans across the country. “By creating a directive on medical marijuana, the V.A. ensures that throughout its vast hospital network, it will be well understood that legal medical marijuana use will not be the basis for the denial of services,” Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, which worked with the department on formulating a policy.
