Robert Celt
New Member
The social stigma of marijuana use has eased, three states have legalized the drug for general adult use and numerous states have legalized it as a prescription medication.
Marijuana's medicinal qualities are widely recognized. Its mildness compared with other prescription drugs like opioid painkillers is inarguable.
People across the political spectrum have acknowledged marijuana's usefulness and campaigned for its legalization. It requires a heartlessness most of us do not possess to withhold from people suffering from chronic and incurable conditions, like multiple sclerosis, the one drug that, some of them say, eases their symptoms.
Withholding medicinal marijuana from suffering veterans, when others are able to use the drug, is especially hard to justify. But wounded and sick veterans have a harder time than other patients getting marijuana prescriptions, even in states that have legalized the drug for medical purposes, because federal law still makes marijuana use illegal.
A recent Post-Star story described the predicament of Matthew Welch of Corinth, a corporal in the Army National Guard who was wounded in 2004 in Iraq. Prescriptions for his chronic pain caused serious side effects, leading to more prescriptions and more bad side effects.
Welch finally stopped taking the prescriptions. Since other patients have found relief with medical marijuana, Welch wants to try it. But the Department of Veterans Affairs won't cover a marijuana prescription.
We have heard a lot about the ways this country has failed veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with limbs missing and minds disturbed. We are losing our veterans to suicide at a terribly high rate.
We should be doing everything we can to treat them and heal them. Medical marijuana, while not a panacea for pain or any other ailment, could be part of an effort to help veterans, particularly those who have not been helped by other prescription drugs.
Many users say marijuana relieves pain and symptoms of other combat-related afflictions, like PTSD, and does it more effectively and with fewer side effects than other prescription drugs.
Our country is reeling from widespread opioid abuse, which is linked to heroin addiction and has caused thousands of overdose deaths. Fatal overdoses from marijuana, meanwhile, are unheard of. While a psychological addiction to marijuana may develop through long-term use, it is not in the same category of destructiveness as addiction to opioids.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been a leader of the legislative effort to make prescription marijuana available to military veterans. Along with Sen. Cory Booker, another Democrat, and Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, she is lead sponsor of the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act.
Despite its clunky name, the legislation would accomplish several important things, clearing the way for cannabis research and reclassifying marijuana on a federal level so it could be covered as a medication by federal agencies such as the VA.
Shrapnel shot into Cpl. Welch's legs when his vehicle ran over a roadside bomb in Iraq. He suffers pain he compared to having nails driven into his feet. There is no excuse for the federal government, which sent him into danger, failing to do everything in its power to help him now.
We're not advocating for pot to be sold along with draft beers in downtown Glens Falls. But we do want veterans to get the best care we can give, and in some cases, that would include medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Let Our Veterans Use Medical Marijuana
Author: Editorial
Contact: The Post Star
Photo Credit: Mike Whiter
Website: The Post Star
Marijuana's medicinal qualities are widely recognized. Its mildness compared with other prescription drugs like opioid painkillers is inarguable.
People across the political spectrum have acknowledged marijuana's usefulness and campaigned for its legalization. It requires a heartlessness most of us do not possess to withhold from people suffering from chronic and incurable conditions, like multiple sclerosis, the one drug that, some of them say, eases their symptoms.
Withholding medicinal marijuana from suffering veterans, when others are able to use the drug, is especially hard to justify. But wounded and sick veterans have a harder time than other patients getting marijuana prescriptions, even in states that have legalized the drug for medical purposes, because federal law still makes marijuana use illegal.
A recent Post-Star story described the predicament of Matthew Welch of Corinth, a corporal in the Army National Guard who was wounded in 2004 in Iraq. Prescriptions for his chronic pain caused serious side effects, leading to more prescriptions and more bad side effects.
Welch finally stopped taking the prescriptions. Since other patients have found relief with medical marijuana, Welch wants to try it. But the Department of Veterans Affairs won't cover a marijuana prescription.
We have heard a lot about the ways this country has failed veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with limbs missing and minds disturbed. We are losing our veterans to suicide at a terribly high rate.
We should be doing everything we can to treat them and heal them. Medical marijuana, while not a panacea for pain or any other ailment, could be part of an effort to help veterans, particularly those who have not been helped by other prescription drugs.
Many users say marijuana relieves pain and symptoms of other combat-related afflictions, like PTSD, and does it more effectively and with fewer side effects than other prescription drugs.
Our country is reeling from widespread opioid abuse, which is linked to heroin addiction and has caused thousands of overdose deaths. Fatal overdoses from marijuana, meanwhile, are unheard of. While a psychological addiction to marijuana may develop through long-term use, it is not in the same category of destructiveness as addiction to opioids.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been a leader of the legislative effort to make prescription marijuana available to military veterans. Along with Sen. Cory Booker, another Democrat, and Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, she is lead sponsor of the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act.
Despite its clunky name, the legislation would accomplish several important things, clearing the way for cannabis research and reclassifying marijuana on a federal level so it could be covered as a medication by federal agencies such as the VA.
Shrapnel shot into Cpl. Welch's legs when his vehicle ran over a roadside bomb in Iraq. He suffers pain he compared to having nails driven into his feet. There is no excuse for the federal government, which sent him into danger, failing to do everything in its power to help him now.
We're not advocating for pot to be sold along with draft beers in downtown Glens Falls. But we do want veterans to get the best care we can give, and in some cases, that would include medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Let Our Veterans Use Medical Marijuana
Author: Editorial
Contact: The Post Star
Photo Credit: Mike Whiter
Website: The Post Star
