Coming to a Veteran's Affairs clinic near you: medical marijuana...at least in some locations.
The VA department is relaxing the rules for medical marijuana users in the 14 states where the drug is legal, according to the Associated Press.
The department directive clarifies the current rule that bars vets from other medication if they use illegal drugs. The clinics won't be able to prescribe marijuana, but the new directive explains that within the 14 states, the use of the drug is permitted.
That means veterans won't have to face the possibility of losing their benefits and access to other prescription pain meds if they are caught smoking cannabis.
"For years, there have been veterans coming back from the Iraq war who needed medical marijuana and had to decide whether they were willing to cut down on their VA medications," said John Targowski, a legal adviser to the group Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access.
Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, told the New York Times that he wished the rules included veterans who lived in states were medical marijuana was illegal.
But he called the latest step historic.
"We know have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: NYDailyNews.com
Author: Aliyah Shahid
Copyright: 2010 NYDailyNews.com
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
The VA department is relaxing the rules for medical marijuana users in the 14 states where the drug is legal, according to the Associated Press.
The department directive clarifies the current rule that bars vets from other medication if they use illegal drugs. The clinics won't be able to prescribe marijuana, but the new directive explains that within the 14 states, the use of the drug is permitted.
That means veterans won't have to face the possibility of losing their benefits and access to other prescription pain meds if they are caught smoking cannabis.
"For years, there have been veterans coming back from the Iraq war who needed medical marijuana and had to decide whether they were willing to cut down on their VA medications," said John Targowski, a legal adviser to the group Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access.
Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, told the New York Times that he wished the rules included veterans who lived in states were medical marijuana was illegal.
But he called the latest step historic.
"We know have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: NYDailyNews.com
Author: Aliyah Shahid
Copyright: 2010 NYDailyNews.com
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
