VA under pressure to ease medical marijuana rules

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is under pressure to ease restrictions on veterans’ access to medical marijuana to help treat pain and other ailments.

Veterans advocacy groups want to know if marijuana can treat chronic pain, as well as help address widespread suicides among veteran communities.

While 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, veterans are finding themselves fighting stigma and roadblocks from the federal government’s drug laws. 

Under official federal policy, VA health care providers may not recommend marijuana or assist veterans in obtaining it. The VA also won’t reimburse veterans who pay for marijuana out-of-pocket. 

Marijuana is a Schedule I drug, meaning it is in the same category as drugs like heroin and LSD. According to the federal government, it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value. Until that classification changes, the VA has said its hands are tied. [Read more at The Hill]