Vets Still Having Problems Getting Medical Cannabis with Eric Goepel. It’s Veterans Day and nearly a third of the country now has access to some form of legal marijuana, yet military vets are still being left out of the equation. Why?
The VA does not permit its physicians to recommend, and in some cases discuss, medical marijuana to veterans suffering from chronic pain, PTSD, opioid addiction, etc. arguing that cannabis is a Schedule l drug. Eric Goepel, founder, and CEO of the Veterans Cannabis Coalition, finds that situation untenable especially in view of the fact that VA physicians regularly recommend various forms of opioids for chronic pain and benzodiazepines for anxiety, which is often related to post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and suicide. Indeed studies have shown that Xanax and Valium are tied to higher suicide risk, especially among those suffering from PTSD.
