US veteran’s children taken away over his use of medical marijuana

[Confounding]

This is completely asinine. Alcohol is worse in every conceivable way but we're not taking kids away from people using it responsibly.

US veteran’s children taken away over his use of medical marijuana

When Raymond Schwab talks about his case, his voice teeters between anger and sadness. “People who don’t understand the medical value of cannabis are tearing my family apart,” says the Kansas father of six and US veteran, who has a prescription for marijuana in neighboring Colorado, where it is legal.

 

[Eaglewings]

Contact high's what a joke. What about kids finding the alcohol, or prescription drugs which could be lethal.

 

[ABikerSailor]

If they're going to remove his kids from his house because of marijuana, what about a person who has a prescription for oxycodone or some other high powered pain killer?

Remember..............the dude DOES have a scrip for medical marijuana.

I'd also like to know who the dirtbag relative is who ratted him out.

 

[waltky]

Mebbe he can appeal based on this...

House Passes Bill to Let VA Docs Talk to Vets About Medical Marijuana
May 19, 2016 | The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a measure to let doctors at the Veterans Affairs Department talk to patients about using medical marijuana.

House lawmakers passed the legislation as part of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill by a vote of 295-129. The Senate was expected to approve a similar provision later in the day. If signed into law by President Barack Obama, veterans in states where medical or recreational marijuana are legal will be able to receive feedback from doctors at the Department of Veteran Affairs on how the drug may be used as part of their treatment for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Marijuana is measured in 3.5-gram amounts and placed in cans for packaging at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash.\​

VA doctors are currently prohibited from filling out forms required for a veteran to seek the drug, even in places where purchasing it is legal. The new measure blocks the VA from spending any funds to enforce that rule -- effectively lifting the restriction and clearing the way for veterans to receive help. "One of the greatest tragedies of our time is our failure to adequately deal with the needs of our veterans returning home with wounds both visible and unseen," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who sponsored the measure, said in a statement. "Medical marijuana can be a safer, more effective alternative."

While the department concedes some veterans use medical marijuana to relieve post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, it questions its effectiveness and suggests the practice might actually be harmful. The language was included in a larger bill that includes $73.5 billion in funding for the VA, a 3-percent increase in funding over 2016. Similar measures have been cut from the bill in the past, including during the same legislative process last year. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

House Passes Bill to Let VA Docs Talk to Vets About Medical Marijuana | Military.com

See also:

Vets Pleading for Cleanup of Black Mold Festering in VA Hospital
May 19, 2016 | Veterans living at a long-term care facility in a Chicago-area VA hospital are pleading for congressional intervention over being forced to live the past 10 months with black mold growing in their housing complex.

Veterans Affairs documents indicate officials at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital knew about the black mold infestation in August 2015 but conducted no testing until mid-April 2016 and have yet to clean up the problem – though they are promising to act soon. The mold is contained in two rooms of the Residential Care Facility (RCF), a separate building housing 30 residents for indefinite stays. "I was going by the hallway and the door was open. The back wall was all moldy black," 81-year-old resident Raymond Shibek told FoxNews.com. "I went and told the director of nursing. She said, ‘How did you see that?' I said, ‘The door was open.' She said, ‘You weren't supposed to see that.'" Shibek said the mold covered an entire wall measuring roughly 10 feet-by-10 feet. Resident Dan James, 58, said the staff "sat on this for months until we started getting aggressive about it," and "only taped off the rooms a month and a half ago."

Veterans say no one knows how long the mold has contaminated the building, but they claim a large number of patients have fallen ill, even died, over the past few years. It is unknown if the mold was in any way related to the illnesses. An April 22-dated letter sent to Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and signed by 18 residents in the unit asked for congressional intervention. "Granted, these poor souls (veterans-patients who reside in the RCF unit) are a group of … patients who need around the clock care, but still there seems to be a high number of both staff and patient illnesses, and a very high rate of death for the RCF unit veterans," the letter said.

Kirk, chairman of the Senate Appropriations VA subcommittee, fired off a letter earlier this week to a VA supervisor seeking answers on the mold problem. "The saddest part about this work is that there seems to be no bottom – each time we discover a problem, there always seems to be a cover-up, instances of willful incompetence, and/or another problem right around the corner," he wrote. Kirk previously has criticized Hines management over an infestation of cockroaches in the hospital kitchen, prompting him to author a bill requiring mandatory outside health inspections. The VA says it is moving to address the mold situation.

An internal email dated March 4 from Rita Young, Hines' chief of Safety and Emergency Management Services, was sent to union stewards updating them. Young said the drywall in two rooms contained "black mold" caused by a pipe leak that has been repaired. It took until April 5 for VA officials to post a bid notice asking for "hazardous material abatement." The project will be awarded next month and is expected to be completed in July, VA spokeswoman Jane Moen said. The VA did not comment on the delay in cleaning up the mold other than to say, "Hines takes any allegations regarding patient safety and concerns seriously. Our veterans, staff and visitors are our #1 priority." The VA has not provided any memos or proof that mold testing was conducted prior to the April tests.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Gotta get the wording right...

Lawmakers Push to Restore Medical Marijuana Language to VA Bill
Jun 28, 2016 | Days after lawmakers killed legislation that would have cleared Veterans Affairs doctors to discuss and make recommendations about medical marijuana to their patients, supporters are taking another swing at the proposal.

A group of 11 lawmakers are asking the House and Senate leadership to restore the language to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill. The medical marijuana provision was dropped during a conference committee review of the legislation -- even though both the House and Senate backed the legislation. "We feel the failure of the Conferees to include either provision is a drastic misfortune for veterans and is contrary to the will of both chambers as demonstrated by the strong bipartisan support for these provisions," the supporters wrote to congressional leaders on Tuesday. No one on the conference committee -- made up of lawmakers from the Senate and House appropriations committees -- has taken credit for pulling the language from the bill.

Jennifer Hing, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Military.com only that the provision "was dropped as part of a bicameral negotiation in Conference Committee on the final legislation." Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon and one of the sponsors of the House version of the bill, slammed the move last week as outrageous. "To add insult to injury, the legislation was released in the middle of the night, not even giving members of the House an opportunity to review the language before voting on it," he told the Stars & Stripes newspaper. Blumenauer is among the writers of the letter to Republicans Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Marijuana is measured in 3.5-gram amounts and placed in cans for packaging at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash.​

Others include Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana and Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. All three lawmakers have sponsored legislation to free up VA doctors to talk with veteran patients about use of medical marijuana. The correspondence was also sent to the Senate and House minority leaders Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Nancy Pelosi of California. An earlier effort to allow VA doctors to talk to veterans about medical marijuana in those states where it is legal also failed last year, whenSenate language was dropped by the House. Only a month ago, however, theHouse passed language similar to the Senate's reintroduced bill. The legislation they have sought and the amendment they're now pushing to get inserted into the omnibus bill would not change current laws preventing the possession or dispensing of marijuana on VA medical centers and hospitals.

The Senate legislation passed in May said the VA would not be allowed to interfere with the ability of veterans to take part in a medical marijuana program approved by the state, deny services to veterans taking part in such a program, or prevent department doctors from making recommendations and assisting veterans in taking steps required to comply with the programs. The House version would lift the same prohibitions by not allowing the VA to enforce the current directive that bars its doctors from recommending medical marijuana to patients and assisting them in taking part in state programs. Other signatories to the letter, all Democrats, include Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Barbara Boxer of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Reps. Jared Polis of Colorado, Dina Titus of Nevada and Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

Lawmakers Push to Restore Medical Marijuana Language to VA Bill | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Gov't. willing to 'look the other way' if it suits their purposes...

DOD Secretary Tells Tech Experts: 'We Can Be Flexible' on Marijuana Use
September 14, 2016 | Defense Secretary Ash Carter went to Silicon Valley on Tuesday as part of his ongoing effort to "build bridges" between the military and technology experts.

"The reason I'm here, and the reason why I'm grateful you're having me here is to -- that I hope many of you in the audience...will find a way to connect to us. We're open-minded, open-eared. We need the help, we know that. And we're willing to meet you halfway." Carter said he wants the Defense Department to "interact with people in a way that's sort of more user-friendly."

What about drugs, someone asked him: "In order to recruit the best engineers in the world right now, you need to be a bit flexible. Let's say somebody went to Burning Man two weeks ago and partaked in some goodies; are they still eligible?" "It depends on what the goodies are," Carter replied. "But, no, well it's a very good question, and we're changing that in recognition of the fact that time's changing generations. Changing -- by the way -- laws change as respecting marijuana and so forth.

"And that in many other ways, we need to -- while protecting ourselves and doing the appropriate things to make sure that it's safe to entrust information with people -- we need to understand, and we do, the way people are -- have -- lives have changed. Not hold against them things that they've done when they were younger. "And so it's an important question, and the answer is yes, we can be flexible in that regard. And we need to."

Although the questioner seemed to be asking about recent drug use, Carter was talking about past drug use, when people were "younger." According to the Defense Department, "Drug use is incompatible with DoD military and public service. The abuse of illicit drugs can impair performance, and negatively impact readiness in the hazardous conditions unique to the military work environment. Illicit drug abuse has the potential to compromise National interests when individuals in security sensitive positions abuse drugs."

DOD Secretary Tells Tech Experts: 'We Can Be Flexible' on Marijuana Use

 

[koshergrl]

Here's the thing I've been telling everybody for years...you had better cut the cord between you and the gubmint. Stop going after those mental health diagnoses, and other medical diagnoses that will get you federal income and medical coverage for drugs..because the price you pay is you will LOSE YOUR KIDS. You give them entre into your medical, your income, your life..and they will use that to seize your kids.

Oregon child welfare services is right now engaged in a HUGE hiring push..they are increasing child welfare workers by the HUNDREDS..concentrating on rural areas that have never had child welfare offices that are staffed by anybody, let alone multiple, workers. They have increased their access to families via snap and medical and child support. They have announced their intent to increase "intervention" which is code for "intrusion". They are taking children from welfare families for things like marijuana use (it's legal here) and bad housekeeping, splitting the kids up and scattering them over the entire US (including out of state, which is of course human trafficking).

They also hired an Arab to head up the agency.

 

[TNHarley]

This is completely asinine. Alcohol is worse in every conceivable way but we're not taking kids away from people using it responsibly.

US veteran’s children taken away over his use of medical marijuana

When Raymond Schwab talks about his case, his voice teeters between anger and sadness. “People who don’t understand the medical value of cannabis are tearing my family apart,” says the Kansas father of six and US veteran, who has a prescription for marijuana in neighboring Colorado, where it is legal.

True, but it is still illegal.
Maybe, if we could quit electing corporatists, we could get some common sense around here. Weed grows in a fucking ditch FFS! But its all about da $$$$

 

[TNHarley]

Some guy on my wifes facebook was talking about his grandfather and that he had some kind of cancer. cant remember which kind. Didn't want any treatment. Smoked pot oil in the morning, and before bed.
Six months later, he is cancer free.
No joke.

 

[TNHarley]

If they're going to remove his kids from his house because of marijuana, what about a person who has a prescription for oxycodone or some other high powered pain killer?

Remember..............the dude DOES have a scrip for medical marijuana.

I'd also like to know who the dirtbag relative is who ratted him out.

Its still illegal at the federal level.

 

[koshergrl]

Official statement that they are going to increase scrutiny of families who receive benefits.

In conjunction with:

Social Service Specialist 2 (Engagement Specialist/Job-Share)

^^^Cps, new position, child welfare worker specifically assigned to scrutinize families who receive snap in the most rural counties of Oregon...Wheeler, Gilliam etc.

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know, the federal government could fix this whole mess simply by declaring cannabis to no longer be Schedule I and move it down to Schedule III.

Then, it would be legal for any doctor in any state to prescribe it.