veterans

Veterans with qualifying conditions can get a free 329 Hawaii Medical Cannabis Card certification at an event in Chinatown on Sunday, Jan. 14. The "329 Veteran Stand Down" event will be held from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. at the Honolulu Office Center at 1110 Nuuanu Avenue. This is the first...

Although Arkansas voters have approved the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will not be allowed to recommend or prescribe the drug to veterans, and the V.A. will not pay for it. As state officials work on plans to provide marijuana...

It was a telling setting for a decision on whether post-traumatic stress disorder patients could use medical marijuana. Against the backdrop of the nation's largest Veterans Day parade, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in November he would sign legislation making New York the latest in...

Once Arkansas allows medical marijuana sales, veterans in the care of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs physicians can discuss the drug with their doctors, but that's it. In the federal government's eyes, marijuana is an illegal, Schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning the VA won't...

There's some good news for veterans in states with legal medical marijuana programs who rely on the sticky green herb and its various distillations for treatment: the Department of Veterans Affairs has officially cleared its physicians and care teams to speak openly with veteran patients about...

Under new Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines, doctors still cannot prescribe medical marijuana, but it looks as though they can stop pretending that it doesn't actually help patients. Veterans have been turning to marijuana as a treatment for pain and for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...

Doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs still can't recommend medical marijuana, but they are being encouraged to talk more about it with military veterans. That's what a new V.A. policy being rolled out this month says. The directive urges government doctors to "discuss with...

Rob Ruckus, a worker at Inyo Fine Cannabis Dispensary in Las Vegas, grabbed a tub of more than 50 canned food items Thursday morning to load into his pickup truck. Over the last couple weeks, donated food – items such as cereal, canned goods, macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper and Ramen...

His nightmares had gotten so bad, Marine Corps veteran Roberto Pickering was drinking himself to death. "When I got back from Iraq, I felt like an eggshell, and a basket case," he said. "And I was just doing all this self-destructive behavior that I could think of to not feel anything at...

It was a telling setting for a decision on whether post-traumatic stress disorder patients could use medical marijuana. Against the backdrop of the nation's largest Veterans Day parade, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this month he'd sign legislation making New York the latest in a...

Even though New York has legalized medical marijuana for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs won't help them get the drug. That's because the department, which operates the nation's VA hospitals, follows federal law which still...

Veterans and other people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder can now obtain medical marijuana as treatment. Gov. Andrew Cuomo Saturday signed a bill allowing people with PTSD to obtain medical marijuana with a doctor's authorization. The bill, which goes into effect...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that he will sign legislation adding post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of eligible conditions in the state's medical marijuana program. "Many of our veterans are suffering from PTSD and the medical community has determined that (medical...

The screech of a chair across the floor of a fast-food restaurant made Tom Mertz instinctively jerk his head toward the noise. He felt the pain immediately in his neck. And when he drives, his right leg throbs unless he keeps rubbing it. Everything hurts. At 68, Mertz, who served...

It's Veterans Day. Banks are closed. People don't receive their mail. And military veterans have myriad options to eat free at restaurants as a thank you for their service. But the American Legion, a major organization of 2.4 million veterans, wants those who served to have access to something...

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned cannabidiol producers against making medical claims about cannabis products, it seemed par for the course for any federal agency. Cannabis is simply not considered medicine in the eyes of the government. But the FDA actually appears...

Joshua James Frey is clear: "Without medical marijuana I would be dead." This Marine Corps veteran is a two-time Purple Heart awardee. He is among the former warfighters, led by the American Legion, who are on the frontlines of the fight for a sensible, federal medical marijuana policy...

Among critics of the federal prohibition of marijuana – a diverse and bipartisan group that includes both criminal justice reform advocates and Big Alcohol – the American Legion and its allies stand out. For more than a year, the stalwart veterans group has been working to reframe the debate...

Veterans tend to be an older, more conservative group, but that doesn't stop them from advocating for a radical change in direction from the nation's outdated policies on marijuana. The American Legion represents many conservative veterans, but that doesn't stop it from taking progressive...

A group of ten U.S. House members is pushing the Trump administration to begin researching medical marijuana's potential benefits for military veterans struggling to cope with war wounds. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) "is uniquely situated to pursue research on the impact of...