VA Docs Prohibited from Discussing Medical Marijuana With Returning Vets

[slimvictor]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-kerrey/va-docs-prohibited-from-d_b_587763.html

The U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) recently adopted a policy prohibiting VA physicians from recommending medical marijuana to their patients, even if marijuana is the safest and most effective medicine to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other service-related conditions.

No doubt the policy stems, in part, from the VA's efforts to address the serious problem of drug abuse among returning veterans. Veterans' advocates and organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) certainly share this concern; last fall, DPA issued a report calling for immediate policy changes to improve veterans' substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Yet seen from the larger perspective of helping veterans adjust to civilian life, the VA's stance on medical marijuana is counterproductive and harmful. The ban means that--despite their service to our country--veterans who reside in the 14 states that have legalized medical marijuana are denied the same rights as every other resident of these states.

At minimum, the VA should be actively studying whether cannabis and its unique chemical ingredients can be used to reduce post-combat trauma without contributing to drug dependency. Ample research and anecdote strongly suggest this is the case.

Patient reports and published research indicate that marijuana can be a highly effective treatment for PTSD, a condition afflicting nearly one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And overwhelming scientific evidence has already proven marijuana's safety and efficacy for treating conditions like chronic pain, which affects many combat-injured veterans.

Marijuana, moreover, carries none of the risks associated with prescription drugs used to treat PTSD, which have been implicated in the tragic overdose deaths of several current conflict veterans.

"I've run the gamut of different medications at the VA, and basically I was at my limit," said decorated U.S. Army veteran Paul Culkin, a New Mexico medical marijuana patient who suffers from PTSD after serving in Iraq. "The medications were turning me into a zombie...medical cannabis made me a father and a husband again. It's been a blessing."

Disappointingly, however, it seems the VA's policy is not just about preventing substance abuse among veterans. The VA claims the ban is primarily a response to threats from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prosecute VA doctors for recommending medical marijuana, or for completing forms necessary for their patients to enroll in a state medical marijuana program--even though to do so would not constitute a criminal offense. Civilian doctors recommending marijuana to their patients have not been arrested or threatened with arrest.

Veterans and advocates are now urging the VA to stand up to the DEA's harassment of veterans and remove the apparent gag order on its doctors. Such advocates include Montel Williams, talk show host, medical marijuana patient, and veteran of the United States Marines Corps and Navy, who said: "I find it egregiously offensive that we can send our children off to die for our freedom, and then so callously turn our backs on their freedom when they return home."

Research has proven the efficacy of medicinal marijuana in the treatment of PTSD. How dare we turn our backs on those who did not hesitate to put themselves in harms way to support and defend our constitution?"

As a result of the ban, veterans who would benefit from medical marijuana are forced to obtain medical advice about it from private doctors outside the VA system--at their own expense.

Of course, veterans in states without medical marijuana laws fare far worse. These veterans risk arrest for using marijuana to treat their combat injuries, joining the more than 800,000 Americans arrested annually for marijuana offenses. DPA's report advocates for sensible policies to prevent the arrest and incarceration of veterans. Protecting veterans who use marijuana is an obvious starting point. In fact, other NATO countries not only allow their veterans to use medical marijuana, but actually reimburse them for it. Sadly, it appears U.S. troops will not come home to as enlightened or compassionate a country.

Our veterans must not be treated like lesser-citizens. They deserve to receive medical advice from their VA doctors, not the DEA. They deserve, above all, the freedom to choose the safest and most effective treatment for their conditions--whatever that treatment might be. Paul Culkin said it best: "It would be inconceivable to withhold weapons, equipment or training from our troops on the ground. Why are we denied access to a medication that might provide relief to us and our families when we come home?"


Bob Kerrey is President of the New School in New York City and former Senator from Nebraska. Jason Flom is on the Board of Directors of the Drug Policy Alliance and President of Lava Records.

 

[slimvictor]

Burning Question: Does pot help PTSD?

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=45333&oref=todaysnews

May 24, 2010

Some military veterans are convinced that marijuana holds the key to dealing with the burden of post-traumatic stress disorder.

But as NPR reported on its "Morning Edition" program last week, they have to go outside the Veterans Affairs Department health system if they want to pursue this avenue of treatment, even if they live in a state that allows the use of medical marijuana.

The VA says it is "in the process of developing national policy" on medical marijuana, but for the time being, the department's general counsel has ruled that for its doctors, filling out a state medical marijuana form would constitute a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Meanwhile, the jury is still out among doctors as to whether marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD.

 

[slimvictor]

Can Marijuana Ease PTSD? A Debate Brews

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126827410

May 19, 2010
The Department of Veterans Affairs finds itself in a difficult position because some vets want to use marijuana to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Pot possession remains illegal under federal law. The VA says that as a federal agency its doctors can't recommend using it.

The problem is especially acute in New Mexico, where one-fourth of the state's more than 1,600 medical marijuana patients are PTSD sufferers.

'Medical Cannabis Saved Our Marriage'

Paul Culkin of Rio Rancho, N.M., traces his PTSD back to 2004 when he was in Kosovo and part of an Army bomb squad. A car crashed into a business. The manager was inside trying to put out a fire. Culkin went in once to try to get him to leave, but he wouldn't go.

"The second time when I went in to get him out of there — that's when the car bomb exploded and the glass hit me," Culkin says.

He recovered from the physical wounds, but years later the trauma of that moment can come back without warning.

"Sometimes you'll see a car that's just not in the right place and it'll send me back to that thinking that it could, possibly, be a car bomb," Culkin says.

Culkin started avoiding social situations and was quick to anger. He says the treatment he's received from the VA — mostly counseling and antidepressant medication — has helped. But, he says, marijuana also works well to relieve his anxiety.

To be legal in New Mexico, he had to go outside the VA system and pay for another doctor and a psychiatrist to recommend him for the state's medical marijuana program. Then he spent more than $1,500 to set up a small growing operation in his garage.

His wife, Victoria, says the marijuana has made a big difference.

"He's a different person. He's a better person. He's more open. He's more communicative," she says. "At one point, we almost got a divorce, and I can honestly say that I think medical cannabis saved our marriage and our family."

The Quest For Solid Research

Anecdotal evidence such as this hasn't swayed the VA. The agency responded to NPR's questions on the matter with this statement: "Based on guidance issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Justice, VA General Counsel has advised that completion of a state medical marijuana form is in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and subject to its enforcement provisions. Therefore VA physicians and practitioners may not participate in state medical marijuana programs. VA has addressed issues/questions regarding medical marijuana separately as they have arisen but is in the process of developing national policy."

Meanwhile there are still questions about marijuana's effectiveness, especially in the medical community.

Instead of smoking marijuana, Culkin stirs a homemade extract of marijuana into hot chocolate or tea to control the dosage. Culkin says he doesn't use marijuana to a level that he loses control.

"There is no solid evidence that cannabinoids — that marijuana — is, in itself, an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder," says Dr. David Spiegel, director of the Stanford Center on Stress and Health. "Before anyone can claim that, there needs to be some more solid research on that topic."

Spiegel says recovery from trauma begins with the victims regaining control, over both their bodies and their mental reactions to the traumatic event. Smoking marijuana could make that more difficult, he says.

"The last thing you want is to be losing control at a time when you're remembering an event in which you lost control," Spiegel says.

Culkin says he doesn't use marijuana to a level that he loses control.

"There is a difference between medical cannabis and what you did back in college," Culkin says. "Smoking in the dorm room and listening to Pink Floyd is not what medical cannabis is about."

Culkin's experience has turned him into an activist. He started an informal patients group a few months back and has become a spokesman for others who believe they were helped by marijuana.

The arguments around marijuana and PTSD start running in circles at a certain point. Scientists say more research is needed. Activists counter that the federal government has blocked research because marijuana is illegal. The American Medical Association has called for controlled studies to settle this and other questions about the effectiveness of marijuana.

Meanwhile, policymakers in states with medical marijuana programs have to make decisions now, and they're reaching different conclusions. While New Mexico found there's enough evidence to approve marijuana use for PTSD, next door in Colorado lawmakers recently rejected a similar proposal.

 

[Oh1o0hwhyO]

If they are going to give returning troops untested or experimental pharms with unknown side effects, why shouldn't marijuana with its 0 side effects, at the very least, be in the discussion. Knowingly keeping a beneficial medicine away from a person in need, for absolutely no real reason, should be criminal.

 

[FacedAgain]

Pump em full of oxys. That'll do it.

 

[Roger&Me]

With all the problems the VA has, I'm sure this one is at the bottom of their list.

But still, it's always sad to see young people return from war (hell-on-earth) and be denied basic things to make them feel better. They paid their dues, and thus deserve to be allowed to heal whichever way they see fit IMO.

 

[DCats]

^agree x 1742727018. FUCK the dea

 

[Z Y G G Y]

MJ takes away money from the big pharma. Every time a patients treats an ailment w/ MJ is a lost opportunity for big pharma to make money cuz MJ can be grown at home. It's all money oriented and they are hitting where they can, at the veterans. There is tons of money being pumped into lobbying by pharma companies, shit load more than the money in favor of MJ. Greedy assholes have tons of connections in the gov't and they won't let down for as long as politicians stand behind them. It's sad and it has not much to do with concern of drug abuse by the military. W/o the veterans all those military operations couldn't be carried out., They should be treated with the uttermost respect by the politicians and their interests should come first before the interests of the greedy pharma companies. But, unfortunate it is not like that. Veterans are left to suffer so that the status quo can be carried on. Makes my blood boil almost as much as the oil spill. In the end its always the little people that have to pay the price for the mistakes and greed of the affluent.

 

[narco anonomous]

MJ takes away money from the big pharma. Every time a patients treats an ailment w/ MJ is a lost opportunity for big pharma to make money cuz MJ can be grown at home. It's all money oriented and they are hitting where they can, at the veterans. There is tons of money being pumped into lobbying by pharma companies, shit load more than the money in favor of MJ. Greedy assholes have tons of connections in the gov't and they won't let down for as long as politicians stand behind them. It's sad and it has not much to do with concern of drug abuse by the military. W/o the veterans all those military operations couldn't be carried out., They should be treated with the uttermost respect by the politicians and their interests should come first before the interests of the greedy pharma companies. But, unfortunate it is not like that. Veterans are left to suffer so that the status quo can be carried on. Makes my blood boil almost as much as the oil spill. In the end its always the little people that have to pay the price for the mistakes and greed of the affluent.

Dude Big Pharma is not the reason pot is criminalized the way it is. I'm not saying that corporations aren't lobying the hell out of legislators to keep it illegal, but Big Pharma doesn't stand to loose all that much were it to be legalized. Fact of the matter is that they would probably make a decent amount of money selling it. It isn't the wonder drug you appear to think it is either, nor is it benign(it is relatively harmless, keyword RELATIVELY the canabanoid system is a very import neurosystem and when you smoke a quarter a day you're probably fuckn with it). It definitely has medical aplications, but it's not like it would come and replace a bunch of blockbuster drugs. I mean I regularly see big pharma aplications for things like sativex. Beyond that though most of the drugs pot has the potential to replace are already generic. Sure you can grow pot, but you can also grow opium, most cancer patients would preffer a pill. I don't know though it's been a while since I had cancer, I might have been up for a vapo bowl, though I was five... The only huge market it has the potential to threaten is pain killers, but that's a laugh. It's very hit or miss as an analgesic, and most physicians don't do hit or miss when they're treating end of life pain patients. I mean unless the patient asks for it, or has severe reactions to the standards I find it unlikely the avg doctor would bring it up. I can't really see it replacing xanax either, as it is also pretty subjective for anxiety.

One thing I would love to see it replace though is alchohol; gross(good-) god drunks are an Fing plauge on civilization. Bunch of half wits drinking industrial chemicals to enable them to behave even worse then usual. They ruin their brains, which they most likely didn't have much of in the first place. First the brain atrophys, then when the liver goes they flood their brain with amonia and get mush brain. They ruin their livers, their stomach, their pancreas, their kidneys. I'm not saying I want to regulate what others do with their bodies, but I have to believe that were marijuana as easily available we would see a great reduction in drunks. The shit is just slow suicide, and I'm sure there would still be many self destructives who would want to kill themselves slowly, but I have to believe some alchohol addicts got into it for fun but staid long after the fun left.

People who do stand to gain by keeping it criminalized: The federal government, Alchohol lobyists, those annoying acronymn dicks like NADCP, DEA to every other kind of law enforcement agency you can think of this is their bread and F@#$ing butter, the prison industrial complex or whatever you call it EVIL works just fine for me, and the final partner in crime Joe the tax payer/plumber/republican who is so delusional he some how has convinced himself that all the shit he helped fuck up from 2000-2009 was the BIG GOVERNMENT AND THE LIBERAL ILEETS FAULT!!