VA Sec. Shulkin: Veterans Administration can study Marijuana, but it can’t

[6915THESS]

In the past few years, talk of the use of #Marijuana in the medical field has been gaining momentum among many people, especially among veterans seeking treatment for conditions such as PTSD. The use has also been gaining support from organizations such as the American Legion, but the #Veterans Administration (VA) have come out and said that they would like to study the issue, but as it stands now, they cannot.

VA Sec. Shulkin: Veterans Administration can study Marijuana, but it can’t

 

[depotoo]

I know of 2 Vets it destroyed.

 

[ABikerSailor]

The only reason the VA can't do research is because of the Schedule I classification of marijuana. Schedule I says that a substance is highly addictive (marijuana isn't), as well as has no medical use (it does). The only research that can be done on Schedule I substances is that which shows how bad it is, nothing can be done to check if it's beneficial or not.

Marijuana isn't physically addictive. If you smoke a lot and then suddenly quit, you don't experience any physical withdrawl symptoms. If you try that same thing with alcohol and then stop suddenly after a couple weeks of heavy drinking, you will experience DT's. Why? Alcohol is physically addictive in high enough doses over a period of time.

And, all the government would have to do to allow the VA to do research, would be to move it to Schedule II or lower. Then, doctors could prescribe it legally in all 50 states.

And................I have talked with many veterans who came back from the wars kinda messed up. Many of them were taking 10 to 15 pills/day because of the problems they had (many had PTSD), and the side effects were messing with them physically. When CO legalized it for recreational use, many of them tried it to see if it would help, and many of them got down to just 1 or 2 pills per day.

The government would do well to check into the 20 years or so of research that has already been done.

It would also cut down on the opiate crisis. When CO legalized it for recreational, the first year, they saw their opiate overdoses drop by 25 percent, and they have continued to drop since.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I know of 2 Vets it destroyed.

I have met many veterans when I go to CO who says that it has helped them a great deal. Many of them were on regimens of 10 to 15 pills per day, but when CO legalized it, they switched to marijuana for their symptoms. Many of them dropped from 10 to 15 pills/day to just 1 or 2. And, because they weren't on all those medications, they didn't experience the side effects of them, and subsequently got healthier.

 

[AZGAL]

Canada has just legalized it and maybe this can help Vet studies here.

 

[AZGAL]

 

[whitehall]

You gotta be kidding me. Veterans at the V.A. can't even smoke a cigarette on the property but the left wing pot heads who have no affiliation with the V.A. want us to believe that if we legalize marijuana all the troubles in the V.A. would go away like a pipe dream.

 

[ABikerSailor]

You gotta be kidding me. Veterans at the V.A. can't even smoke a cigarette on the property but the left wing pot heads who have no affiliation with the V.A. want us to believe that if we legalize marijuana all the troubles in the V.A. would go away like a pipe dream.

I'm a 20 year retired veteran, and I get all my health care from the VA. Interestingly enough, when I've talked to the doctors who do my physical, almost all of them are in favor of being able to prescribe marijuana, because they know what the medical benefits are.